1
NEWS 6 Fuel Cells Bulletin September 2013 that will make the products available across Denmark, Austria, Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the UK, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Slovenia. DTU Energy Conversion’s FCH Test Center in Denmark is coordinating analysis for the project. ene.field project: www.enefield.eu/about Baxi Innotech GmbH: www.baxi-innotech.de/index.php?lang=1 Elcore GmbH: www.elcore.com (in German) European Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking: www.fch-ju.eu Or contact: Dr Eva Ravn Nielsen, Head of FCH Test Center, DTU Energy Conversion, Roskilde, Denmark. Tel: +45 4677 5782 , Email: [email protected], Web: wwwx.dtu.dk/sites/FCH_Test_Center.aspx Redox Power working with U Maryland to launch new SOFC unit I n the US, Redox Power Systems and University of Maryland researchers have partnered to deliver new solid oxide fuel cell technologies that they say will provide power for businesses, homes, and eventually automobiles at one-tenth of the cost and size of current commercial fuel cell systems. Redox’s PowerSERG 2-80, also called The Cube, is based on patented technology developed by Professor Eric Wachsman, director of the University of Maryland Energy Research Center (UMERC). The unit is simply connected to an existing natural gas line for a residential or commercial building, and being slightly larger than a dishwasher, can sit comfortably in a basement, outside a building, or on the roof. The first-generation Cube runs on natural gas, but it can generate power from a variety of fuel sources, including propane, gasoline, biofuel, and hydrogen. The system emits negligible pollutants and much less CO 2 than conventional energy sources, and can run at 80% overall efficiency when used to provide both heat and electric power. Redox plans to release The Cube in 2014. The first version will be configured to 25 kW, which can comfortably power a gasoline station, moderately sized grocery store, or small shopping plaza. Additional power offerings will follow. Using different-sized fuel cell stacks, the company can offer The Cube at 5 kW to provide always-on electricity for an average American home, or up to 80 kW in one system. Cubes can also be combined to provide even more power in a modular fashion. Wachsman’s research has reduced the operating temperature to 650°C, with future reductions aiming to get down to 300°C. These lower temperatures mean the system can turn on much more rapidly, operate with greater reliability, and be made with conventional stainless steel parts rather than expensive alloys. He says that his fuel cells generate 10 times the power at these lower temperatures than anything else on the market (on the order of 2 W/cm 2 ), cutting the system’s cost by a factor of 10. He has developed dual-layer electrolytes using new materials, and dramatically improved the anode so it can withstand cycling the system on and off. In early 2012 Wachsman and his former PhD student Bryan Blackburn entered the VentureAccelerator Program, an initiative of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute, that helps selected University of Maryland inventors get their research out of labs and into industry by creating successful companies. Wachsman and Blackburn quickly teamed with Warren Citrin and fellow entrepreneurs David Buscher and Robert Thurber, to form Redox Power Systems. The team has exclusive rights to Wachsman’s patents, and Redox has contracted research to the university to further refine and improve the fuel cells. Redox Power Systems LLC, Fulton, Maryland, USA. Web: www.redoxpowersystems.com or www.powerserg.com Or contact: Professor Eric Wachsman, Director – University of Maryland Energy Research Center, College Park, Maryland, USA. Tel: +1 301 405 8193, Email: [email protected], Web: www.wachsman.umd.edu or http://energy.umd.edu FuelCell Energy signs co-marketing deal with NRG Energy C onnecticut-based FuelCell Energy has announced a co-marketing agreement with NRG Energy in Houston, to expand the marketing and sales channel for FCE’s molten carbonate fuel cell power plants. NRG Energy will offer customer financing options using power purchase agreements, to provide clean onsite baseload power for its customers. NRG will market the power plants to its customer base, offering a financing option utilising a power purchase agreement whereby NRG will purchase and own the power plant and sell the ultra-clean electricity and high- quality heat to the end-user, or the customer can purchase the power plant. The agreement also includes the option of NRG Energy purchasing and owning fuel cell power plants for its own portfolio and selling the power to the electric grid. FuelCell Energy is expected to install, operate, and maintain each power plant owned or sold by NRG. ‘This new relationship helps to round out our distributed power generation portfolio, offering our customers efficient, clean, continuous onsite power,’ says Tom Gros, president of NRG Solutions. ‘Baseload combined heat and power (CHP) fuel cells have virtually zero emissions, making them well suited to provide reliable electricity, hot water, steam or absorption chilling to universities, hospitals, and other large power users.’ For customers who want to enjoy the benefits of fuel cell generated power but prefer not to own the power plant directly, NRG will purchase the power plant from FuelCell Energy, retain ownership of the plant, and sell the power to the customer through a long-term power purchase agreement. The stationary fuel cell power plants manufactured by FuelCell Energy are fuel- flexible, capable of operating on natural gas, onsite renewable biogas, or directed biogas. The power plants provide continuous baseload power, and can be sited where the power is used, for both onsite applications and electric grid support. FuelCell Energy and energy giant Dominion recently began construction of what will be the largest fuel cell power project in North America, the 14.9 MW Dominion Bridgeport Fuel Cell facility in Connecticut [FCB, June 2013, p7]. FuelCell Energy also supplied the power plants for the world’s largest fuel cell installation, a 59 MW fuel cell park for Posco Energy in Korea [FCB, October 2012, p1]. In other news, NRG Energy has plans to add fuel cell and solar elements to a biomass conversion at its Montville, Connecticut power station, according to NorwichBulletin.com. The $100 million renewable energy park project – with 5.6 MW of power from FCE’s natural gas fuel cells, 2.3 MW from a planned solar panel farm, and 42 MW from biomass – will create 300 construction jobs and 200 long-term jobs, including those servicing fuel cells, working in the biomass facility, and in logging and transportation. The company has filed its proposal with the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, as it looks for funding support and long-term power supply contracts to make the plan economically attractive. FuelCell Energy, Danbury, Connecticut, USA. Tel: +1 203 825 6000, www.fuelcellenergy.com NRG Energy: www.nrgenergy.com LARGE STATIONARY

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NEWS

6Fuel Cells Bulletin September 2013

that will make the products available across Denmark, Austria, Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the UK, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Slovenia. DTU Energy Conversion’s FCH Test Center in Denmark is coordinating analysis for the project.

ene.field project: www.enefield.eu/about

Baxi Innotech GmbH: www.baxi-innotech.de/index.php?lang=1

Elcore GmbH: www.elcore.com (in German)

European Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking: www.fch-ju.eu

Or contact: Dr Eva Ravn Nielsen, Head of FCH Test Center, DTU Energy Conversion, Roskilde, Denmark. Tel: +45 4677 5782 , Email: [email protected], Web: wwwx.dtu.dk/sites/FCH_Test_Center.aspx

Redox Power working with U Maryland to launch new SOFC unit

In the US, Redox Power Systems and University of Maryland researchers

have partnered to deliver new solid oxide fuel cell technologies that they say will provide power for businesses, homes, and eventually automobiles at one-tenth of the cost and size of current commercial fuel cell systems.

Redox’s PowerSERG 2-80, also called The Cube, is based on patented technology developed by Professor Eric Wachsman, director of the University of Maryland Energy Research Center (UMERC). The unit is simply connected to an existing natural gas line for a residential or commercial building, and being slightly larger than a dishwasher, can sit comfortably in a basement, outside a building, or on the roof.

The first-generation Cube runs on natural gas, but it can generate power from a variety of fuel sources, including propane, gasoline, biofuel, and hydrogen. The system emits negligible pollutants and much less CO2 than conventional energy sources, and can run at 80% overall efficiency when used to provide both heat and electric power.

Redox plans to release The Cube in 2014. The first version will be configured to 25 kW, which can comfortably power a gasoline station, moderately sized grocery store, or small shopping plaza. Additional power offerings will follow. Using different-sized fuel cell stacks, the company can offer The Cube at 5 kW to provide always-on electricity for an average American home, or up to 80 kW in one system. Cubes can also be combined to provide even more power in a modular fashion.

Wachsman’s research has reduced the operating temperature to 650°C, with future reductions aiming to get down to 300°C. These lower temperatures mean the system can turn on much more rapidly, operate with greater reliability, and be made with conventional stainless steel parts rather than expensive alloys. He says that his fuel cells generate 10 times the power at these lower temperatures than anything else on the market (on the order of 2 W/cm2), cutting the system’s cost by a factor of 10. He has developed dual-layer electrolytes using new materials, and dramatically improved the anode so it can withstand cycling the system on and off.

In early 2012 Wachsman and his former PhD student Bryan Blackburn entered the VentureAccelerator Program, an initiative of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute, that helps selected University of Maryland inventors get their research out of labs and into industry by creating successful companies. Wachsman and Blackburn quickly teamed with Warren Citrin and fellow entrepreneurs David Buscher and Robert Thurber, to form Redox Power Systems. The team has exclusive rights to Wachsman’s patents, and Redox has contracted research to the university to further refine and improve the fuel cells.

Redox Power Systems LLC, Fulton, Maryland, USA. Web: www.redoxpowersystems.com or www.powerserg.com

Or contact: Professor Eric Wachsman, Director – University of Maryland Energy Research Center, College Park, Maryland, USA. Tel: +1 301 405 8193, Email: [email protected], Web: www.wachsman.umd.edu or http://energy.umd.edu

FuelCell Energy signs co-marketing deal with NRG Energy

Connecticut-based FuelCell Energy has announced a co-marketing

agreement with NRG Energy in Houston, to expand the marketing and sales channel for FCE’s molten carbonate fuel cell power plants. NRG Energy will offer customer financing options using power purchase agreements, to provide clean onsite baseload power for its customers.

NRG will market the power plants to its customer base, offering a financing option utilising a power purchase agreement whereby NRG will purchase and own the power plant and sell the ultra-clean electricity and high-quality heat to the end-user, or the customer

can purchase the power plant. The agreement also includes the option of NRG Energy purchasing and owning fuel cell power plants for its own portfolio and selling the power to the electric grid. FuelCell Energy is expected to install, operate, and maintain each power plant owned or sold by NRG.

‘This new relationship helps to round out our distributed power generation portfolio, offering our customers efficient, clean, continuous onsite power,’ says Tom Gros, president of NRG Solutions. ‘Baseload combined heat and power (CHP) fuel cells have virtually zero emissions, making them well suited to provide reliable electricity, hot water, steam or absorption chilling to universities, hospitals, and other large power users.’

For customers who want to enjoy the benefits of fuel cell generated power but prefer not to own the power plant directly, NRG will purchase the power plant from FuelCell Energy, retain ownership of the plant, and sell the power to the customer through a long-term power purchase agreement.

The stationary fuel cell power plants manufactured by FuelCell Energy are fuel-flexible, capable of operating on natural gas, onsite renewable biogas, or directed biogas. The power plants provide continuous baseload power, and can be sited where the power is used, for both onsite applications and electric grid support.

FuelCell Energy and energy giant Dominion recently began construction of what will be the largest fuel cell power project in North America, the 14.9 MW Dominion Bridgeport Fuel Cell facility in Connecticut [FCB, June 2013, p7]. FuelCell Energy also supplied the power plants for the world’s largest fuel cell installation, a 59 MW fuel cell park for Posco Energy in Korea [FCB, October 2012, p1].

In other news, NRG Energy has plans to add fuel cell and solar elements to a biomass conversion at its Montville, Connecticut power station, according to NorwichBulletin.com. The $100 million renewable energy park project – with 5.6 MW of power from FCE’s natural gas fuel cells, 2.3 MW from a planned solar panel farm, and 42 MW from biomass – will create 300 construction jobs and 200 long-term jobs, including those servicing fuel cells, working in the biomass facility, and in logging and transportation. The company has filed its proposal with the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, as it looks for funding support and long-term power supply contracts to make the plan economically attractive.

FuelCell Energy, Danbury, Connecticut, USA.

Tel: +1 203 825 6000, www.fuelcellenergy.com

NRG Energy: www.nrgenergy.com

LARGE STATIONARY