- Email: [email protected]
SUPERGEN Hub to set UK energy storage research strategy
NEWS core capabilities at the national labs, to reduce the cost and time of new fueling station construction and improve station availability and reliability. H2FIRST’s technical goal is to develop and apply physical testing, numerical simulation, and technology validation to help create lowcost, high-performance materials, components, and station architectures. The project will also collect and distribute data supporting industry efforts to reduce the costs of integrated fueling systems and networks. Specific objectives include the development of improved hydrogen fueling station design and requirements; acceleration of hydrogen fueling station deployment; reduction of hydrogen fueling system costs and improvement of system availability, safety and reliability; more innovative and efficient hydrogen fueling stations; and integration of renewable hydrogen and the power grid. Sandia and NREL will share their hydrogen expertise, including research in hydrogen-specific materials and systems engineering. Sandia’s Center for Infrastructure Research and Innovation (CIRI) in California and NREL’s Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) in Colorado, will serve as hubs for H2FIRST. Sandia’s facilities will develop and test innovative infrastructure technologies to accelerate market readiness, drawing on its broader hydrogen programme, which includes research on storage, delivery, production, systems analysis and safety, codes & standards [see page 6]. NREL will use its performance testing, analysis, and safety, codes & standards expertise to study renewable hydrogen generation and infrastructure systems and components. Its new Energy Systems Integration Facility offers a hose reliability testing robot and the ability to construct additional refueling hardware. The H2FIRST project is initially expected to identify opportunities that offer high probability for success for timely advancement of near-term fueling stations. The project will also work to identify and develop common lab capabilities for advancing hydrogen fueling technologies. The project is expected to eventually include companies and organisations in the automotive, energy, and industrial gas sectors, fuel cell manufacturers, station component providers, state and regional government agencies, and research institutions. Sandia National Labs, Hydrogen Research: http://tinyurl.com/sandia-crf-h2 NREL, Energy Systems Integration Facility: www.nrel.gov/esi/esif.html
8
Fuel Cells Bulletin
ENERGY STORAGE
COMMERCIALISATION
SUPERGEN Hub to set UK energy storage research strategy
ClearEdge Power files for bankruptcy, shuts Connecticut operation
A
U
new £4 million (US$6.7 million) collaboration between academics and industry has been unveiled in the UK, that will set the direction and development of research and technologies in energy storage. The SUPERGEN Energy Storage Hub will draw experts from seven universities and 14 industrial and government partners, to address the technical and scientific challenges facing the wide variety of energy storage techniques. Led by Professor Peter Bruce at the University of Oxford, the Hub will develop a shared vision for energy storage in the UK by developing the first integrated national roadmap for energy storage through engagement with the wider community. The Hub, unveiled by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) on behalf of the Research Councils UK Energy Programme, will work with its industrial partners to accelerate the pull-through of research to scale-up, prototyping, and commercialisation. The participating universities are Oxford, Cambridge, Birmingham, Bath, Southampton, Warwick, and Imperial College. The industrial project partners are Arup Group, EDF Energy, the Energy Technologies Institute, GDF SUEZ (UK), Highview Power Storage, Jaguar Land Rover, Johnson Matthey, National Grid, Nexeon, Pnu Power, Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), Sharp Laboratories of Europe, and UK Power Networks, as well as the Department for Transport. The consortium brings together investigators with strong reputations in energy storage research, spanning the entire value chain from energy storage technologies, through manufacturing, integration, and evaluation of the whole system in which the energy storage would be embedded. The activities will embrace energy policy, as well as a roadmap and a vision for energy storage research in the UK, thus setting the agenda for UK energy storage.
Contact: Professor Peter Bruce, Department of Materials, University of Oxford, UK. Tel: +44 1865 273751, Email: [email protected], Web: www.materials.ox.ac.uk
S-based ClearEdge Power has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, to give it time to restructure more than $100 million owed to at least 1000 creditors, according to its petition to a California court. The company has already shut down its two facilities in South Windsor, Connecticut and laid off 268 employees, according to regional media reports. The shock move comes just a couple of months after CEO and president David Wright announced plans to expand its campus in South Windsor, Connecticut to boost production of its 5 kW and 400 kW fuel cell products, targeting the doubling of annual revenues to $200 million [FCB, March 2014, p9]. ClearEdge Power acquired UTC Power just over a year ago from United Technologies, which reportedly paid ClearEdge $48 million to take control of its fuel cell subsidiary [FCB, January 2013, p8]. ClearEdge subsequently eliminated the transportation (PEM fuel cell) division and laid off more than 100 of the 300 workers in Connecticut [FCB, April 2013, p9]. The Connecticut closure is already the subject of legal action in federal court, alleging ClearEdge failed to give notice of the layoffs as required by law, and that it still owes wages and benefits to those whose jobs were cut, according to an OregonLive.com report. There is no word yet on whether the company will maintain a presence in Hillsboro, Oregon where it was headquartered until last year before relocating to Sunnyvale, California in the heart of Silicon Valley. ClearEdge had apparently hoped to receive a significant contract from a customer, which would have brought in bridge financing to keep the company operating, according to a HartfordBusiness.com report, but that contract was delayed for ‘many months’. One piece of good news: the abrupt closure of ClearEdge’s South Windsor operations does not affect US Hybrid, which is in the same building, according to a JournalInquirer.com report. California-based US Hybrid bought the transportation fuel cell part of the business from ClearEdge last September, and recently executed a global licensing agreement with United Technologies to commercialise UTC’s proven PEM fuel cell technologies. To this end, it established operations in South Windsor to
May 2014
8
Fuel Cells Bulletin
ENERGY STORAGE
COMMERCIALISATION
SUPERGEN Hub to set UK energy storage research strategy
ClearEdge Power files for bankruptcy, shuts Connecticut operation
A
U
new £4 million (US$6.7 million) collaboration between academics and industry has been unveiled in the UK, that will set the direction and development of research and technologies in energy storage. The SUPERGEN Energy Storage Hub will draw experts from seven universities and 14 industrial and government partners, to address the technical and scientific challenges facing the wide variety of energy storage techniques. Led by Professor Peter Bruce at the University of Oxford, the Hub will develop a shared vision for energy storage in the UK by developing the first integrated national roadmap for energy storage through engagement with the wider community. The Hub, unveiled by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) on behalf of the Research Councils UK Energy Programme, will work with its industrial partners to accelerate the pull-through of research to scale-up, prototyping, and commercialisation. The participating universities are Oxford, Cambridge, Birmingham, Bath, Southampton, Warwick, and Imperial College. The industrial project partners are Arup Group, EDF Energy, the Energy Technologies Institute, GDF SUEZ (UK), Highview Power Storage, Jaguar Land Rover, Johnson Matthey, National Grid, Nexeon, Pnu Power, Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), Sharp Laboratories of Europe, and UK Power Networks, as well as the Department for Transport. The consortium brings together investigators with strong reputations in energy storage research, spanning the entire value chain from energy storage technologies, through manufacturing, integration, and evaluation of the whole system in which the energy storage would be embedded. The activities will embrace energy policy, as well as a roadmap and a vision for energy storage research in the UK, thus setting the agenda for UK energy storage.
Contact: Professor Peter Bruce, Department of Materials, University of Oxford, UK. Tel: +44 1865 273751, Email: [email protected], Web: www.materials.ox.ac.uk
S-based ClearEdge Power has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, to give it time to restructure more than $100 million owed to at least 1000 creditors, according to its petition to a California court. The company has already shut down its two facilities in South Windsor, Connecticut and laid off 268 employees, according to regional media reports. The shock move comes just a couple of months after CEO and president David Wright announced plans to expand its campus in South Windsor, Connecticut to boost production of its 5 kW and 400 kW fuel cell products, targeting the doubling of annual revenues to $200 million [FCB, March 2014, p9]. ClearEdge Power acquired UTC Power just over a year ago from United Technologies, which reportedly paid ClearEdge $48 million to take control of its fuel cell subsidiary [FCB, January 2013, p8]. ClearEdge subsequently eliminated the transportation (PEM fuel cell) division and laid off more than 100 of the 300 workers in Connecticut [FCB, April 2013, p9]. The Connecticut closure is already the subject of legal action in federal court, alleging ClearEdge failed to give notice of the layoffs as required by law, and that it still owes wages and benefits to those whose jobs were cut, according to an OregonLive.com report. There is no word yet on whether the company will maintain a presence in Hillsboro, Oregon where it was headquartered until last year before relocating to Sunnyvale, California in the heart of Silicon Valley. ClearEdge had apparently hoped to receive a significant contract from a customer, which would have brought in bridge financing to keep the company operating, according to a HartfordBusiness.com report, but that contract was delayed for ‘many months’. One piece of good news: the abrupt closure of ClearEdge’s South Windsor operations does not affect US Hybrid, which is in the same building, according to a JournalInquirer.com report. California-based US Hybrid bought the transportation fuel cell part of the business from ClearEdge last September, and recently executed a global licensing agreement with United Technologies to commercialise UTC’s proven PEM fuel cell technologies. To this end, it established operations in South Windsor to
May 2014