Main points
The focal point of the Seventh Grove Fuel Cell Symposium was The Issues Outstanding. Accordingly, many seminars examined the work that needed to be done before fuel cells could be successfully commercialised, rather than the work that was being done.
As a result the conference did not communicate an over-riding sense of progress. By focusing on the challenges facing commercialisation many speakers did not discuss the advances their companies were making so much as the obstacles they have yet to overcome. Furthermore, most of the fuel cell products discussed seemed some way off, particularly so far as cost was concerned, and end-users were not much in evidence.
On a brighter note, the conference enjoyed record attendance levels, and good representation from all the main industry players. Press interest was also high, as was the number of companies with exhibition stands or posters.
Other notable features of the event included the commitment expressed by companies like RWE and General Motors to fuel cells, and the progress being made by the IEC (International Electrochemical Commission) in developing the necessary legislative framework for commercialisation.
The conference also saw the launch of Fuel Cell Today, which was celebrated with a cocktail party.
Seminar Reviews
Day One: Tuesday 11 September 2001
After an introduction from Grove chairman, Gary Acres, the conference was officially opened by Nicky Gavron, Deputy Mayor of London. She mentioned the Greater London Authority's (GLA) interest in fuel cells as a sustainable source of energy, and said that the GLA recognised the need for investment in infrastructure and the hydrogen economy to get fuel cells on their way.
Nicky Gavron in a Ballard fuel cell go-kart.
Stationary Power Generation, Session One: The Market
Keynote presentation: Fuel Cells in a Deregulated Energy Market
Heinz Bergmann, Fuel Cell Project, RWE AG, Germany.
RWE considers fuel cells to be the most suitable source of energy in future deregulated power markets, and is taking steps to become the first mover and major player in the increasing European market for decentralised electricity and heat generation.
RWE has taken steps to have a foothold in all parts of the supply chain for residential and stationary fuel cell systems in Europe, from systems manufacture to energy supply and management
It is cooperating with Nuvera to develop systems up to 200kWe and with MTU to develop systems above 200kWe. In both cases it aims to enter the market in 2004.
RWE has set up a Fuel Cell Demonstration Pavilion in Essen, Germany. Opened in August 2001 this contains a 100kW SOFC built by Siemens Westinghouse, which is currently the longest running SOFC system in the world. A prototype MTU 200kW MCFC is scheduled for installation by the end of 2001. Residential systems are also being tested there.
A Commercialisation Strategy for Fuel Cell Micro-Generation Systems
Plug Power USA
Plug Power has established alliances with partners across the supply chain, from General Electric to Vaillant, a leading European manufacturer of heating appliances. With Vaillant it is developing 4.5kWe residential fuel cell systems for the European market. These will be fuelled by natural gas, although Plug is working on the development of LPG fuel processing.
By June 2001 it had built 217 fuel cell systems in total with 211,000 hours of operation. Recently it has received a contract from the Long Island Power Authority to supply 75 units to run together as a virtual power plant
Plug Power's systems are currently costing in the region of US$10,000 per kW. It is hoping to cut this figure to US$1,000 per kW by 2004, by a range of measures including introducing modular construction design. It is currently developing a product platform that can be shared by a range of system sizes and types.
Plug Power says it is currently producing in the region of 5 to 10 systems per month
Codes and Standards for Fuel Cell Installations
Werner Tillmetz, International Electrochemical Commission (IEC).
This talk highlighted the need for the development and establishment of universal international codes and standards for the fuel cell industry
The IEC established a fuel cell committee, TC105, in 1999 and is carrying out a great deal of very interesting work in this area. 13 countries are currently involved, as are the majority of the major players in the industry.
The IEC Fuel Cell Committee currently has four groups working on fuel cell codes and standards.
- 1. Definitions. This is seeking to define and develop the necessary terminology to introduce fuel cell codes and standards.
- 2. Fuel cell module. This is working on codes and standards for fuel cell stacks.
- 3. Stationary Fuel Cells. This is working on codes and standards relating to the safety of stationary fuel cells.
- 4. Testing Methods of Performance of Fuel Cells.
The IEC is currently setting up other working groups to look at codes and standards relating to: the installation of stationary fuel cells; fuel cell vehicles; portable fuel cells.
Demonstration of "Micro-CHP" Fuel Cell Systems
Andreas Ballhausen, EWE, Germany
EWE is a regional utility operating in Northern Germany with several services and business areas, including natural gas and electricity supply and telecommunications. It is pursuing an interest in alternative energies, including wind power, bio-mass, photovoltaics, and last and not least fuel cells
Since 1998 EWE has been testing SOFC residential systems developed by Sulzer Hexis. It has tested seven Sulzer systems so far and has ordered 155 of Sulzer's pre-series residential SOFC. 15 of these will be installed in Autumn 2001, and the rest in 2002-3. EWE also has an agreement with Vaillant, and will start testing a Vaillant residential prototype in 2002 (made by Plug Power).
EWE is leading the way in the introduction of fuel cell systems in homes. It is already training plumbers to install and service Sulzer Hexis systems, and has over 400 home-owners who are keen to have a fuel cell system installed in their homes.
The Rolls Royce Programme for Pressurised Hybrid Fuel Cell Systems
Dr. Gerry Agnew, Chief Engineer, Fuel Cells, Rolls Royce.
Rolls-Royce has developed a hybrid SOFC fuel cell/Gas Turbine system. Its work to date has focused on developing fundamental aspects of such a system, particularly with a view to keeping costs to a minimum. It has successfully managed to cut costs per kW to US$300.
Rolls-Royce's system is pressurised. This improves performance by preventing pressure drops, and allows the company to use turbomachinery to bring down heat rather than a conventional heat exchanger, which is much more expensive.
Rolls-Royce has participated in a number of European and US DOE funded programmes. It is now focusing on taking its technology out of the lab, by developing products. In August 2001 it successfully ran a 1kW stack. It is planning to commercialise a 1MW hybrid SOFC/Gas Turbine system in 2005-7.
Day Two: Wednesday 12th September
Session 5A: Research and Development of Advanced Materials
This session dealt with a range of materials issues, covering PEMFC, DMFC, SOFC, in addition to hydrogen storage. DaimlerChrysler started off with thoughts on the present state of the art of membranes for automotive use. Presently, most companies supply polymers based on perfluorosulphonic acid, such as Asahi Glass's Flemion or Du Pont's Nafion. Other companies are looking at different technology, including Celanese's polyaromatic Celazole.
Operating coniditons were described which were 80 degrees C with the aim of reaching 90-110 degrees C in the longer term. Increasing the operating temperature allows lower levels of humdification and lower platinum and other precious metal content.
ZSW then took this topic on further into direct methanol territory. Many of the same problems continue, such as water management and metal loading and cost. Methanol crossover, however, seems to be the main issue as it is damaging to cell performance. ZSW demonstrated the importance of membrane structure and manufacture in controlling this.
Fuel Cell Technology - The Military Perspective
John Jones, Ministry of Defence (MoD), UK
The UK MoD has been interested in fuel cells for some time, although a number of projects have not been fruitful. It is, however, now committed to propelling a number of next generation Royal Navy ships with electricity, including Type 45 Frigates and submarines. In this area it sees fuel cells as a promising source of power, owing to a number of factors including low noise and vibration, efficiency and lower fuel consumption. It cites a number of possible deterrents, however, to the deployment of fuel cells, notably cost.
In the realm of hydrogen storage the MoD is interested in the development of Carbon nanofibre based storage. This technology is currently being developed at Cambridge University.
Fuel Cell Systems for Submarines, from the First Idea to Serial Production
Angela Psoma, HDW, Germany.
HDW is a major shipbuilding company in the north of Germany. Since the 1970s it has pursued an interest in fuel cells as a source of power in submarines, and has used and tested a number of systems, on ground and at sea.
With Siemens AG it has developed a 300kW PEMFC system, which is to be installed in its U212 class of submarines. Six of these will be delivered to the German and Italian navies from 2003, and other fuel cell submarines (notably for the Greek and South Korean navies) are in the pipeline.
HDW has worked extensively on the development of fuel storage for submarines, in which area there have been a number of challenges to resolve. It has developed a metal hydride storage system for hydrogen, series production of which has already commenced. However, it believes that methanol is superior carrier of hydrogen, and is now developing methanol steam reformers for use in submarines. So far it has developed a reformer that produces hydrogen of sufficient purity and quantity to power a 200kW PEMFC plant.
Portable Power for Military Applications
Robert Nowak, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), USA
The US Department of Defense (DoD) needs lighter and more compact electrical power sources for soldier, robotic and other emerging applications. Batteries are presently used for these systems, but in many cases do not store sufficient power. Fuel cells could make up this shortfall.
The US Military began looking at small fuel cells in the late 1980s. Darpa has worked for over 10 years on DMFC technology, and has developed a 60W portable system with Ball Aerospace, which runs off a 1% methanol solution. This promises to be a much cheaper source of power to run. In the future it hopes to develop a Direct Liquid fuel cell for military applications. This is likely to employ Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, owing to their greater resistance to impurities, and the greater ease of reforming.
DARPA has set up a new five year programme, "Palm Power", to develop a 20W direct liquid fuel system. To find out more details, visit http://www.darpa.mil/dso/thrust/md/palmpower/index.html
Technology and Markets of Portable Fuel Cells
Christopher Hebling, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems
This talk outlined the pros and cons of batteries versus fuel cells, and gave an overview of issues such as fuel and fuel storage. It highlighted the challenges involved in miniaturising fuel cells for portable applications (including start-up time, water and heat management, and production technology).
The demand for portable fuel cells, once the technical and economic issues have been overcome, could be huge. This is evident in the number of corporations who are developing portable systems, details of which were given.
- Ballard is developing systems in the 100W to 1000W range.
- Mechanical Technologies started working on DMFC technology this year, in partnership with Dupont.
- Zentrum fur Sonnenergie und Wasserstoff-Forschung has developed a fuel cell charging unit for cellphones, and a hydrogen powered torch.
- Enable (part of DCH Technology) has developed a 24W portable system, which is currently being tested outside in Iceland.
- Samsung are working on DMFC membranes and MEAs and have developed very small 40W and 230W stacks.
- Manhattan Scientifics and Energy Related Devices have developed a charger for cellphones, the Power Holster.
Fuel Cells for Portable Applications
Chris Dyer, Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, USA
This talk highlighted the strong demand for alternatives to batteries in portable power markets, particularly as the power requirements of much portable equipment is becoming greater and greater. Fuel cells were cited as an excellent alternative, and it was noted that this was one area in which the commercialisation of fuel cells might be driven by the market rather than by technology.
The issue of cost was closely examined. Direct Methanol Fuel Cells are currently far too expensive for the technology to be adopted, except perhaps by the military. The cost of catalysts, for example, was said to be currently around US$30 per W, when the total system cost should be approaching US$5 per W. Small PEMFC systems powered by hydrogen looked more attractive, although there was the issue of safety and fuel supply to overcome.
Fuel Cell Systems for Auxiliary Power Unit Applications in Passenger Cars
Thomas Zweimueller, BMW Group, Germany.
BMW restated its belief that the Internal Combustion Engine was still the best source of Mechanical Power for cars, but was optimistic about the potential of fuel cells as auxiliary power sources in the automobiles of tomorrow.
BMW's demonstration fleet of 15 hydrogen-powered 7 Series cars all have 5kWe PEMFC Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) installed in the boot, powered by the car's hydrogen fuel. BMW is now looking to develop a fuel cell APU that runs off conventional fuels, and for this reason is now developing a high temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell APU, in conjunction with Delphi Automotive Systems.
So far one prototype SOFC APU has been fitted in the spare tyre compartment of a BMW 7 Series, which BMW says is the first non-stationary SOFC in the world. BMW hopes to perfect the system in about five years, in which time it will work on costs, start-up time (which is currently 1 hour), thermal capabilitiy and production methods.
Day Three: Thursday 13 September 2001
Session 8: Transportation
Towards the zero emission vehicle: a review of the Californian Fuel Cells Parrtnership
Alan Lloyd, California Air Resources Board
Alan Lloyd gave an informative talk on the activities of the Californian Fuel Cell Partnership. As over ninety per cent of Claifornians still breathe unhealthy air, although the LEV (low emission vehicle) program has achieved much, much remains to be done. A zero emission vehicle (ZEV) will emit less hydrocarbons and NOx in 100,000 miles of use than would a LEV II gross polluter in two weeks of normal use.
The ZEV mandate still remains but the split of vehicles required has changed, as of early 2001. Partial ZEVs, advanced technology partial ZEVs (ATPZEV) and pure zero emission vehicles all gain credits. A hydrogen-fuelled zero emission vehicle will, for example, gain 8 ZEV credits in 2006, declining to 3 in 2012 and afterwards. Before this amendment, sales of nearly 39,000 ZEVs were required in 2010. This amendment has reduced this figure to 21,300 (which could include hydrogen fuel cell cars) but has introduced the ATPZEV category which would require 79,000 sales (which can include methanol or gasoline fuel cell cars.
The role of buses was also mentioned, with the involvement of buses in the Californian Fuel Cell Partnership. Some zero emission buses will be required for transit agencies from 2003, although progress has, perhaps, been less than had been expected.
The California stationary fuel cell collaborative, at http://www.stationaryfuelcells.org, was also mentioned and its challenging targets of installing 20MW of fuel cell power by 2002 and 100MW by 2003.
Challenges and Opportunities of Building-Up a Hydrogen Infrastructure
Christopher Kloed, Norsk Hydro Electrolysers, Norway
Norsk Hydro is developing electrolysers to generate hydrogen from water. It is participating in European hydrogen programmes, and holds a stake in Icelandic New Energy Ltd, which aims to phase out the use of fossils fuels in Iceland in favour of hydrogen.
Norsk Hydro believes that the establishment of a hydrogen infrastructure is not only practically achievable but also affordable. It is initially concentrating on establishing networks of hydrogen generators powered by electricity from the grid.
On-Board Gasoline Reforming: the Bridge to the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle
Matthew Fronk, General Motors, USA
General Motors believes that hydrogen will, in the long-term, be the fuel of choice for automotive applications. In the meantime, it has decided to bridge the gap to hydrogen by developing Fuel Cell Vehicles that are powered by reformed gasoline.
General Motors has been focusing on the fundamentals of reforming gasoline into hydrogen for a number of years, and has so far developed three generations of prototype gasoline fuel processors. Its latest Gen III fuel processor has seen performance improvements in several areas, including start-up time (which is down to 138 seconds from 720 seconds) and size. Power output is up to 2.2kW per litre from 0.93kW per litre, and GM is aiming to push this figure up to 6kW per litre.
GM has cut costs tenfold in the last two years, but says another tenfold reduction in cost is still required. Another issues to resolve include the fuel processor's resistant to extremes of heat and cold, and its durability. It has been successfully tested for 1,400 hours so far, with 6,000 hours as the target.
GM has optimistic about the advent of Fuel Cell Vehicles. "Ten years ago", said Matthew Fronk, "Fuel Cell Vehicles were believed to be 50 years out. Today people are looking at them being introduced within a decade".
As if to reinforce this sense of progress, Fronk announced that GM had developed a new PEM stack, with improved performance over previous units. Power output was up by 10% to 1.75kW per litre, and the stack required no cathode humidification. Moreover, a 100kW version was easily packagable in existing automobiles.
Fuel Processors for Fuel Cell Vehicles
Detlef zur Magede, XCELLSIS GmbH, Germany
This talk initially looked at the arguments for and against using on-board reformers in Fuel Cell Vehicles. It was suggested that it was easier and cheaper to build the necessary infrastructure to supply vehicles with liquid fuels such as methanol and ethanol, than with hydrogen. Xcellsis also thought that methanol would be more readily available for fuel cell markets than hydrogen, owing to existing overcapacities in its production.
Xcellsis also gave some details of its reforming technology. It said that many problems with on-board reforming had been overcome, not least the issue of excess heat, which was not a problem with the reformer installed in NECAR 5, the Mercedes A-Class Fuel Cell prototype. It concluded by saying that low temperature fuel cell processors had good potential from a technical point of view.
Prospects for Fuel Cell Vehicles: a Japanese Perspective
Hisashi Ishitani, University of Tokyo
This talk gave details of a report produced for the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), looking into the development of PEM fuel cells for automotive and stationary applications. This report gave an overview of the current status of development and key issues surrounding the technology, and presented a strategy for future development.
Japan plans to initially introduce fuel cell vehicles in 2005-2010, in which period it will also develop a fuel supply system. From 2010 (by which time it was hoped that there would be 50,000 FCVs on the road in Japan) it was hoped that the fuel cell vehicle market would expand under its own steam. Until then it was noted that government support would be essential.
The strategy for commercialisation covered most issues, including establishing standards, promoting public acceptance, and organising demonstrations and test fleets. It was already led to the establishment of the "Fuel Cell Committee Conference of Japan" (FCCJ, or Kyogikai), which is organising a number of working groups. One of these is looking into the unresolved issue of fuel choice, in which area no conclusions have yet been drawn.
Advances in Ballard Fuel Cell Technology - The Mk 900
Peter Gibb, Ballard Power Systems
Ballard is now shifting its focus from the technical development of systems to more product orientated work, namely reducing costs and improving reliability, lifetime, and system integration.
Ballard is working to cut costs wherever it can. Progress was noted in its development of flexible graphite for fuel cell plates. After ten years it said it had developed a material with the right balance between cost and performance, and that the costs involved met long term targets. In the production of MEAs it is looking at developing a reel to reel process.
Ballard was keen to note that at present, the dominant cost in fuel cell development were incurred in validation and reliability tests.
Alkaline Fuel Cells for Transport Applications
Nicholas Abson, ZeTek Power, UK
Zetek Power now has 200 employees, and several facilities in Europe, Russia and the US. It said that its AFC fuel cell systems were now selling at US$1,000 per kW, and that it was looking at materials development to cut this figure further, and said it had developed electrodes with no precious metal content. Performance figures were not given.
Zetek has so far built six Fuel Cell Vehicles, but expects this number to grow. It has an agreement with Iveco to produce Fuel cell delivery systems for United Parcel Services.
It reported that its Fuel Cell Taxi had cost 40% more than a normal taxi, and that the most expensive component installed was not the fuel cell but the electric motor.
Zetek Power is also working on Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Technology, and announced that it has an agreement with Medis Technologies of Israel to develop a Direct Methanol Micro-PEM fuel cell.
Zetek claimed that is Fuel Cell Vehicles could run off a whole range of reformed fuels (including diesel) but no details were given.
Session 9: The issue outstanding: investing in fuel cells
John Dean of UBS Warburg, Mike Read of 3i and Robin Batchelor of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers combined to talk about some of the issues surrounding investment in the fuel cell community. The respective strategy and skills of each organisation were outlined, from the advice and analysis of the banks to the attitudes and actions of the venture capitalists.
Some of the main points made concerned realism in the market and the setting of milestones, allowing investors the opportunity to assess the potential of any company seeking to obtain investment. It was also repeated that the fuel cell industry is not competing within itself for funding as much as with other technologies and sectors. The key role played by industry associations such as the World Fuel Cell Council and the US Fuel Cell Council were stressed.