NEWS / EDITORIAL

May 2013 Fuel Cells Bulletin3

the complete system and its integration into vehicles; the ZBT Fuel Cell Research Center in Duisburg, which developed the fuel cells; and Gräbener Maschinentechnik, which produced the metal separator plates for the fuel cells.

The project has an overall budget of approximately E2.5 million (US$3.2 million), including E2 million within the framework of the ‘Electric Mobility NRW’ initiative from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Energy, Construction and Traffic of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).

Gräbener Maschinentechnik GmbH: www.graebener-maschinentechnik.de

Institute for Combustion Engines, RWTH Aachen: www.vka.rwth-aachen.de/index.php?id=1&L=2

FEV Motorentechnik: www.fev.com

ZBT Fuel Cell Research Center: www.zbt-duisburg.de/en

Ace Hardware deploys Plug Power fuel cells in materials handling

In the US, Plug Power has announced it will deploy a fleet of 65 GenDrive™

fuel cell units for a new customer, Ace Hardware Corporation. The hydrogen PEM fuel cell units will power materials handling equipment at a newly constructed distribution facility in Texas.

Plug Power’s GenDrive units offer Ace Hardware increased productivity of its lift truck fleet, as well as more efficient use of its facility space. The competitive tender process saw the fuel cell technology compete with lead-acid batteries and fast-charge batteries, to be deemed the best power source for the materials handling fleet. Operational costs are reduced as a result of decreased operator and vehicle off-floor time, since GenDrive fuel cells can be refuelled by truck operators in less than two minutes.

The power units will be used at Ace Hardware’s newest Retail Support Center, located in Wilmer, Texas. Construction on the facility broke ground in mid-March for completion in early 2014. The lift trucks are manufactured by Crown Equipment Corporation.

Ace Hardware will also see reduced greenhouse gas emissions through using GenDrive power units in its operations. The removal of toxic lead-acid batteries from this new facility also creates a safer environment for employees as well as the community, and helps fulfill Ace’s desire to improve the sustainability of its distribution centres.

Plug Power has long-standing relationships with industry leaders including Procter & Gamble [FCB, December 2012, p2], FedEx Freight [FCB, November 2012, p1], and Mercedes-Benz USA [FCB, August 2012, p2], who have together accumulated over 6 million hours of runtime with more than 3500 units in the field [see the Plug Power feature in FCB, December 2011]. The GenDrive unit integrates PEM fuel cell stacks supplied by Ballard Power Systems [FCB, August 2011, p9].

Plug Power, Latham, New York, USA. Tel: +1 518 782 7700, www.plugpower.com

Ace Hardware: www.acehardware.com

SFC launches EFOY Comfort generators in US and Canada

The popular EFOY Comfort series of fuel cell generators for recreational

applications from German-based SFC Energy are now available for consumers in Canada and the US. These direct methanol fuel cell generators provide silent, environmentally friendly, weather-independent power to electrical devices onboard motorhomes (recreational vehicles, RVs), sailboats, yachts, and in cabins.

The EFOY Comfort range integrates SFC Energy’s long industrial offgrid power generation expertise. The company is well established in North America for its fuel cell generators for defence applications, and the popular EFOY Pro fuel cells for oil & gas, security & surveillance and homeland security applications [see page 6]. SFC is now making this technology available to consumers, in the form of its EFOY Comfort series of reliable fuel cell generators for recreational purposes. The company exhibited the EFOY Comfort generators at the recent Strictly Sail Pacific Boat Show in Oakland, California and at the Victoria Harbour Boat Show in the British Columbia capital.

EFOY Comfort is available in three performance classes (with battery-charging capacities of 80, 140, and 210 Ah per day), with a performance increase of 15% over previous generations. The new EFOY Comfort series is even quieter than its predecessors, thanks to the intelligent utilisation of vibration-absorbing attenuators from the automotive industry.

More than 50 motorhome manufacturers and sailboat and motor boat producers [FCB, February 2013, p4] throughout Europe offer EFOY with their vehicles or boats. SFC

E D I T O R I A L

Power-to-Gas (P2G) is attracting increasing interest at the moment, with a number of

projects under way or planned in Europe in particular.

The last few months have been busy in the P2G sector. As we report in this issue, a European consortium of 11 leading companies have combined to establish the North Sea Power to Gas Platform [see page 8]. They aim to further develop the conversion of temporary surpluses of renewable electric power into a gaseous energy carrier like hydrogen or methane. The Platform is led by DNV KEMA, and includes our old friends Hydrogenics and ITM Power.

The North Sea region makes particular sense for P2G, with its well developed transnational onshore and offshore natural gas infrastructure. The North Sea is also seeing the construction and operation of a rapidly increasing number of offshore wind farms, as well as expanding solar photovoltaic capacity installed in the countries surrounding it.

Meanwhile, Canadian-based Hydrogenics has separately won an order for a 1 MW hydrogen energy storage system to be deployed in Hamburg, Germany [see page 9]. The company’s PEM electrolyser technology will produce hydrogen, using excess power generated from local wind energy, at a P2G facility run by E.ON. The electric utility already has a Hydrogenics 2 MW Power-to-Gas energy storage system installed at Falkenhagen in eastern Germany, using surplus renewable energy to produce hydrogen for injection into the regional natural gas pipeline network [FCB, January 2013, p7].

For its part, UK-based ITM Power is supplying a 360 kW Power-to-Gas energy storage plant based on its PEM electrolyser for a project with the Thüga Group in Germany [FCB, April 2013, p9]. ITM is also leading the GridGas project in the UK, to investigate the feasibility of injecting hydrogen generated from electrolysis fed from excess renewables into the UK’s gas networks [FCB, April 2012, p1].

And in France the GRHYD project – led by GDF Suez, and including McPhy Energy – is looking into the injection of hydrogen into natural gas networks, and production of Hythane® natural gas/hydrogen blended fuel [FCB, December 2012, p10].

The feature article in this issue addresses the chicken-and-egg challenge that the fuel cell and hydrogen industry has been facing for so long, particularly with regard to transportation. Mikael Sloth at H2 Logic in Denmark explains how the company is playing its part by developing reliable and cost-effective hydrogen refuelling infrastructure. He concludes that ‘the chicken needs a fenced yard to lay the egg’, in terms of a balanced mix between market support mechanisms and regulation from the public side.

Steve Barrett

MOBILE APPLICATIONS

NEWS

4Fuel Cells Bulletin May 2013

Energy has already sold over 26 000 fuel cells worldwide [see the SFC Energy feature in FCB, January 2013].

SFC Energy, Brunnthal/Munich, Germany. Tel: +49 89 673 5920, www.sfc.com

EFOY Comfort fuel cell generators: www.efoy-comfort.com

CFCL wins order from EWE for 60 integrated mCHP units, funding

Australian-based Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd has received a binding order for

60 integrated micro combined heat and power (mCHP) units from energy service provider EWE in Germany. CFCL has also raised £5.0 million (US$7.6 million, before expenses) in additional funding to support its commercial activities.

The EWE order starts the final phase of the development and demonstration programme for integrated mCHP generators agreed with the German utility in 2010 [FCB, December 2010, p1]. Delivery is scheduled for between June and December.

Integrated mCHP generators combine solid oxide fuel cell technology and a condensing boiler to meet all electricity and heat requirements for single-family homes and small office buildings. Operating this new fleet will demonstrate the latest product improvements that CFCL and its local development partner Gebrüder Bruns Heiztechnik GmbH have incorporated, including enhanced overall control and thermal efficiency. As soon as final design changes are validated, CFCL and its partners will start the certification process and prepare for market introduction.

These units will be CFCL’s second product offering, alongside the already well established BlueGen® generators, which offer a power-led solution [FCB, April 2013, p4]. With the new mCHP system, CFCL will be able to target the sizable and resilient residential demand for heating and heating-replacement units. Commercial product launch is expected in 2014.

EWE’s order had been conditional on the utility receiving partial funding from the German government’s National Innovation Programme for hydrogen and fuel cell technology, which has now been granted. EWE is already operating 72 units under the demonstration programme, and has accumulated more than 500 000 operating hours in homes of EWE customers. CFCL has achieved significant cost reductions between

phase 1 and the start of the final phase, bringing the integrated mCHP unit closer to commercial viability.

The new fund-raising has raised £4.3 million ($6.5 million) through the issue of secured convertible loan notes to a number of institutional investors, and a further £0.7 million ($1.1 million) through the placing of 32.7 million new ordinary shares in the company. In addition to these funds, CFCL expects to receive a further A$5 million (US$4.9 million, £3.3 million) in cash from the Australian government around the middle of the year in relation to a tax refund. This amount arises as a refundable credit in relation to the company’s FY12 R&D expenditure that is claimable for tax purposes.

Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd, Noble Park, Victoria, Australia. Tel: +61 3 9554 2300, www.cfcl.com.au

European Sales Office: Ceramic Fuel Cells BV, Heerlen, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 88 5445 070.

Ballard ships 500th methanol telecom unit, hits record production

Canadian-based Ballard Power Systems has shipped its 500th

ElectraGen™-ME methanol-fuelled telecom backup power system, since the company expanded its product line in August 2012 with the acquisition of IdaTech’s key assets [FCB, August 2012, p10]. Ballard has also announced that its production facility in Tijuana, Mexico manufactured 215 ElectraGen-ME systems in the first quarter of 2013, setting a new record production level at the plant.

Ballard is strongly positioned as a leading supplier in the fuel cell sector for telecom backup power systems, offering both ElectraGen-ME liquid fuelled methanol systems as well as ElectraGen-H2 gaseous hydrogen fuelled systems.

The company is actively engaged in regions such as Southeast Asia and South Africa, where electricity grids can be unreliable. As a result, telecom networks are vulnerable to frequent grid outages, impacting continuity of service to subscribers. Power disruptions also occur as the result of natural disasters and extreme weather conditions, which can cause service outages in communication networks at critical times. This reality is putting a higher focus on the need for extended-duration backup power solutions in telecom networks, which in turn is leading to greater interest in fuel cell systems.

This heightened interest has translated into growing demand for fuel cell telecom backup power solutions, running on gaseous hydrogen or liquid methanol. In 2012 Ballard shipped approximately 400 ElectraGen backup power systems, comprising 240 methanol-fuelled and 160 hydrogen-fuelled units. Demand growth has continued in 2013 and, with an additional 260 methanol-fuelled systems in the first quarter, the company has now shipped its 500th methanol fuelled system since the expansion of its product line last summer to include the ElectraGen-ME system.

Methanol is a readily available fuel that maximises flexibility for siting and supporting a fuel cell system such as the ElectraGen-ME. This system has an integrated fuel reformer that converts HydroPlus™ (a methanol-water liquid fuel mixture) into hydrogen gas to power the fuel cell. Ballard’s products are being sold through distribution partners that include Nokia Siemens Networks [FCB, November 2012, p1], Motorola [FCB, September 2009, p4], Cascadiant in Indonesia [FCB, February 2013, p5], Azure in China [FCB, July 2012, p4], and Inala Technologies in South Africa [FCB, October 2012, p5].

The company’s 37 000 sq ft (3400 m2) Tijuana facility was established in 2007 by IdaTech, with Ballard taking over management in January 2013 as part of its acquisition of IdaTech assets. ‘The record Q1 production level reflects the growing demand for fuel cell backup power systems, and we believe that we have the potential to ramp up to 900 ElectraGen-ME systems per quarter at the plant,’ says operations director David Whyte.

Ballard Power Systems, Burnaby, BC, Canada. Tel: +1 604 454 0900, www.ballard.com

Acta intros integrated backup power system for telecom market

Italian-based Acta SpA has launched a new backup power system for the

telecom market based on its innovative hydrogen generator technology, for grid-connected and off-grid applications. This product – unveiled at the recent Hannover Messe in Germany – addresses the large and rapidly growing demand for backup power systems for telecom base stations in Asia, which has become a key growth market for fuel cell systems.

The Acta Power product incorporates low-cost onsite hydrogen generation, which

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