FuelCellsWorks

Montreal, Canada– EnergyOr Technologies Inc., a leading developer of advanced proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell systems, recently demonstrated a long endurance flight of more than 10 hours with its fuel cell powered, operational unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The aircraft, FAUCON H2, complete with integrated avionics, executed a predetermined flight plan for 10 hours and 4 minutes, then landed th, 2011 in autonomously just after sunset on Friday, August 12 Drummondville, Quebec, Canada.

The integrated hybrid UAV propulsion system was designed to take full advantage of fuel cells for their high energy density, and lithium polymer (LiPo) batteries to provide short bursts of power during take-off, climb and severe weather conditions. The result is that UAVs powered by EnergyOr’s line of EPOD fuel cell systems have a flight endurance that is up to four times longer than those powered by rechargeable LiPo batteries.

FAUCON H2 is one of the first UAV platforms to be designed specifically around the fuel cell which allowed the entire flight system to be optimized, resulting in very high system level efficiencies for both the UAV airframe and fuel cell system. It has a wing span of 3 meters, length of 1.2 meters, total mass of 9 kg (including representative payload mass of 1 kg) and a cruise speed between 65 km/h and 100 km/h.

• EnergyOr has again demonstrated its advanced fuel cell technology and confirmed its robustness, efficiency and reliability”, stated Michel Bitton, President and CEO of EnergyOr. “What makes this an even greater achievement is that FAUCON H2 is not an experimental aircraft built just for long endurance. It is a versatile, rugged and practical operational UAV”

The avionics and ground control station were developed and operated by Robota LLC from Sealy, Texas. “For Robota, it was a wonderful opportunity to participate in this significant, world-class event. We are typically familiar with two hours of flight endurance, but FAUCON H2 exceeded our greatest expectations”, said Antonio Liska, Robota’s President.

EnergyOr recently developed the EO-310-XLE which is its latest generation of advanced fuel cell system technology. This lightweight and rugged UAV propulsion system is similar to EnergyOr’s other EPOD products, the EO-210-LE and EO-210-XLE, but provides 50% additional power with effectively the same size and weight. It has been designed specifically to deliver extended flight endurance at high altitude, high ambient temperatures, and under the most demanding of weather conditions. EnergyOr is also investigating fuel cell systems for 20 kg and 65 kg UAVs.

“In conjunction with its development partners, EnergyOr will now move forward to commercialize its advanced line of fuel cell products,” said Michel Bitton.

Small, electrical UAVs are a growing segment of the unmanned aircraft market and are designed to operate in many diverse environments: military applications, police surveillance, border patrol, inspection of remote power lines and pipelines, traffic surveillance, emergency and disaster monitoring, search and rescue, agricultural applications and aerial photography, to name a few.

About EnergyOr

EnergyOr Technologies (2002), was the first and only company to fly a fuel cell powered UAV in Canada (May 2007), and in December 2007, performed the first ever fuel cell flights in Israel, exceeding 5 hours of flight endurance. In March 2009, EnergyOr integrated the EPOD EO-210-LE fuel cell system into the Bird Eye 650 developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and demonstrated successful long endurance flights of similar flight times.

EnergyOr offers fuel cell products including the EPOD line of UAV fuel cell systems, the EPAC line of portable auxiliary power units (APUs), the EDAQ fuel cell data acquisition & diagnostic system, and the HPOD hydrogen filling station. EnergyOr provides total system solutions which include compressed gas and chemical hydride cartridge hydrogen delivery systems, and also complete system integration services. Please refer to our product brochures online for more information or contact EnergyOr directly.

To promote its line of advanced fuel cell products, EnergyOr will attend the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Exposition in Washington, D.C. from August 16th to 19th, 2011. In November 2011, EnergyOr will display and demonstrate its fuel cell product line at the Unmanned Systems Canada Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — A novel microscopy method at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is helping scientists probe the reactions that limit widespread deployment of fuel cell technologies.

ORNL researchers applied a technique called electrochemical strain microscopy that enables them to examine the dynamics of oxygen reduction/evolution reactions in fuel cell materials, which may reveal ways to redesign or cut the costs of the energy devices. The team’s findings were published in Nature Chemistry.

“If we can find a way to understand the operation of the fuel cell on the basic elementary level and determine what will make it work in the most optimum fashion, it would create an entirely new window of opportunity for the development of better materials and devices,” said co-author Amit Kumar, a research scientist at ORNL’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences.

Although fuel cells have long been touted as a highly efficient way to convert chemical energy into electrical energy, their high cost — in large part due to the use of platinum as a catalyst — has constrained commercial production and consumption.

Large amounts of platinum are used to catalyze the fuel cell’s key reaction — -the oxygen-reduction reaction, which controls the efficiency and longevity of the cell. Yet exactly how and where the reaction takes place had not been probed because existing device-level electrochemical techniques are ill suited to study the reaction at the nanoscale. ORNL co-author Sergei Kalinin explains that certain methods like electron microscopy had failed to capture the dynamics of fuel cell operation because their resolution was effectively too high.

“When you want to understand how a fuel cell works, you are not interested in where single atoms are, you’re interested in how they move in nanometer scale volumes,” Kalinin said. “The mobile ions in these solids behave almost like a liquid. They don’t stay in place. The faster these mobile ions move, the better the material is for a fuel cell application. Electrochemical strain microscopy is able to image this ion mobility.”

Other electrochemical techniques are unable to study oxygen-reduction reactions because they are limited to resolutions of 10’s of microns – 10,000 times larger than a nanometer.

“If the reaction is controlled by microstructure features that are much finer than a micron, let’s say grain boundaries or single extended defects that are affecting the reaction, then you will never be able to catch what is giving rise to reduced or enhanced functionality of the fuel cell,” said ORNL’s Stephen Jesse, builder of the ESM microscope. “You would like to do this probing on a scale where you can identify each of these defects and correlate the functionality of the cell with these defects.”

Although this study mainly focuses on the introduction of a technique, researchers explain their approach as a much-needed bridge between a theoretical and applied understanding of fuel cells.

“There is a huge gap between fundamental science and applied science for energy-related devices like fuel cells and batteries,” Kalinin said. “The semiconducting industry, for example, is developing exponentially because the link between application and basic science is very well established. This is not the case in energy systems. They are usually much more complicated than semiconductors and therefore a lot of development is driven by trial and error type of work.”

Co-authors on the study are University of Heidelberg’s Francesco Ciucci and Anna Morozovska from the National Academy of Science of Ukraine, whose theoretical analysis was critical in explaining the ESM measurements.

This research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences at ORNL. CNMS is one of the five DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers supported by the DOE Office of Science, premier national user facilities for interdisciplinary research at the nanoscale. Together the NSRCs comprise a suite of complementary facilities that provide researchers with state-of-the-art capabilities to fabricate, process, characterize and model nanoscale materials, and constitute the largest infrastructure investment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. The NSRCs are located at DOE’s Argonne, Brookhaven, Lawrence Berkeley, Oak Ridge and Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories. For more information about the DOE NSRCs, please visit http://science.energy.gov/bes/suf/user-facilities/nanoscale-science-research-centers/. ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

By Ben Edwards Bloomberg

Israel’s water industry is attracting funds from General Electric Co. (GE) and ConocoPhillips as the country develops energy-saving technology to treat sewage, part of a $5 billion program to clean up water supplies by 2016.

Emefcy Ltd., building a fuel cell that uses bacteria to break down waste in water, has raised more than $10 million from investors including GE, NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) and ConocoPhillips, its Chief Executive Officer Eytan Levy said in a telephone interview. The process reduces the amount of energy required to treat sewage and generates electricity.

“We’ve seen a significant increase in interest in resource recovery from wastewater that wasn’t there just a few years ago,” Levy said from Caesarea, Israel. The company is targeting sales in Europe and the U.S. and forecasts annual revenue of more than $100 million by 2017, he said.

The bacteria project is a small part of Israel’s effort to alleviate a water shortage without straining limited energy supplies. The country’s dry climate and lack of desalination capacity put it at the forefront of a global increase in water scarcity, which the United Nations says will extend to 30 countries by 2025, a gain of more than 50 percent from 1990.

Israel has doubled its exports of water technology to $1.5 billion following a state-funded program that began in 2006, said Dimitra Christakou, head of water insight services at Bloomberg New Energy Finance in London. The nation has attracted global interest as governments and utilities study how it has invested to cope with the depletion of underground aquifers.

General Electric Funds

In June, Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE opened a research and development center in Haifa, Israel, and invested in Emefcy through Energy Technology Ventures, a joint venture with NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips. (COP)

“It’s important for us to make sure that we’ve got the right technologies,” Steve Kloos, advanced technologies leader at GE Power & Water, said by phone from Minnetonka, Minnesota. “Energy is a big deal in water treatment,” he said, adding that Emefcy’s equipment is different because it generates power while treating the wastewater.

Construction of Emefcy’s $1 million fuel-cell production plant on the outskirts of Caesarea will be completed by the end of the year, with first commercial orders ready for shipping by early 2012, Levy said.

Energy Costs

Power use makes up as much as 40 percent of operating costs at a typical water-treatment plant, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Last year, wastewater treatment accounted for about 30 percent of the world’s spending on water, New Energy Finance data show.

In the Mideast alone, spending on treatment will jump to $17 billion in 2016 from $6.7 billion in 2009, according to Global Water Intelligence. Israel plans to invest more than $5 billion on water and wastewater treatment over the period.

“There is a clear opportunity to modernize the wastewater treatment industry,” said Richard Irving, a founding partner at Pond Venture Partners Ltd., a San Jose, California-based fund that invests in Emefcy. “The driving need is twofold: Water scarcity and the economics of wastewater treatment and energy.”

Israel produces 500 million cubic meters of sewage a year — enough to fill 200,000 Olympic-size swimming pools — according to the environment ministry. Some 75 percent of that is reused for irrigation, New Energy Finance data show.

The country’s Administration for the Development of Sewage Infrastructures invests about 450 million shekels ($128 million) a year on maintenance and upgrades, according to the Ministry of National Infrastructures.

Bubble Treatment

Mapal Green Energy Ltd., based in Nesher, northern Israel, has come up with its own method of treating water while cutting costs. The company has developed a floating aeration system that processes waste by pumping bubbles of air into the water.

Mapal Green has received letters of interest from utilities in the U.K., South Africa and Peru, and is in talks with a Chinese company to form a joint venture, Vice President for Business Development Zeev Fisher said by phone, declining to name the company. Mapal Green plans to raise as much as $8 million “to catch the market,” he said.

Unlike fixed aeration equipment, the floating system sits on the water’s surface, allowing sewage plants to be retrofitted, according to the company, which says its technology can reduce operating costs by as much as 70 percent. It already has 23 plants in Israel, one in Angola and one in Congo.

By 2025, 1.8 billion people around the world will face water scarcity, a situation whereby each person has access to less than 1,000 cubic meters of water a year, according to the UN. Almost half the global population will be living in areas of “high water stress” by 2030, it says.

BOULDER, Colo.–Fuel cell manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) continue to benefit from an increased U.S. military emphasis on energy security and logistical efficiency associated with the complex and challenging operational conditions being encountered in remote wartime environments such as Afghanistan. At the same time, an almost complete dependence on a fragile and commercial power grid and other national critical infrastructure places military and homeland defense missions at an unacceptably high risk of extended disruption. These factors are leading the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and other military agencies to explore fuel cells as an increasingly important part of their energy strategy for a variety of applications. According to a new report from Pike Research, the escalating adoption of fuel cells will create a $1.2 billion market for military fuel cells by 2017, up from only $9 million in 2011.

“Performance is the most powerful driving force for the adoption of fuel cells by the world’s armed forces,” says research analyst Euan Sadden. “Enhancing the overall capabilities and performance of the U.S. armed forces is the leading priority for U.S. military agencies in considering new technologies and products for funding and potential integration into various military systems. Low noise and low heat signature represent two good examples, providing specific benefits to military users that may not be as important to other customers. Overall, though, the most attractive attribute of fuel cell systems is their high energy density, particularly when compared to standard military batteries.”

However, adds Sadden, formidable barriers still face fuel cell manufacturers in their pursuit of the military market. Cost, durability, supply chain shortfalls, fuel availability, and serviceability are all factors that will pose serious challenges in the years ahead. Military users are the world’s most demanding customers for fuel cells and, while they will be less price sensitive than the commercial market in the near term, their performance and production scale requirements may ultimately prove too high a hurdle for some vendors to overcome.

Pike Research’s analysis indicates that the largest opportunity for military fuel cells lies with soldier wearable and portable power applications for devices such as radios, ruggedized computers, and night-vision goggles, in which fuel cells are primarily used as a replacement for portable batteries. The firm forecasts that this category will represent more than 50% of the total military fuel cell market by 2017. The second largest category will be remote sensors and surveillance devices such as unmanned ground sensors (UGS).

Pike Research’s report, “Fuel Cells for Military Applications”, examines the stationary, transport, and portable power applications for fuel cell technologies currently being explored and validated by the U.S. Department of Defense, including a detailed analysis of market drivers as well as potential barriers to adoption. Forecasts through 2017 are also provided for those technologies and applications that are deemed as offering a realistic possibility of being deployed within that timeframe. An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the firm’s website.

Pike Research is a market research and consulting firm that provides in-depth analysis of global clean technology markets. The company’s research methodology combines supply-side industry analysis, end-user primary research and demand assessment, and deep examination of technology trends to provide a comprehensive view of the Smart Energy, Smart Grid, Smart Transportation, Smart Industry, and Smart Buildings sectors. For more information, visit www.pikeresearch.com or call +1.303.997.7609.

$6 Million to Advance Commercialization and Scale-up

MISSISSAUGA– Hydrogenics Corporation (Nasdaq:HYGS) (TSX:HYG), a leading developer and manufacturer of hydrogen generation and fuel cell products, announced today that it has signed a term sheet with the Ontario Government that will realize up to CA$6.0 million to advance the company’s commercialization of products for the telecommunications, vehicle and utility-scale energy storage markets.

The agreement through Ontario’s Strategic Investment Fund represents 100 new and retained jobs in Ontario in support of the Province’s emerging status as a world leader in clean energy innovation. Sandra Pupatello, Ontario Minister of Economic Development and Trade, joined Hydrogenics President and CEO Daryl Wilson to make the announcement at Hydrogenics’ headquarters in Mississauga.

The new financial support, in the form of an interest-free loan, will enable Hydrogenics to scale up its manufacturing and expand its research and development activities, solidifying the company’s path toward full commercial profitability. Hydrogenics has refined its product line-up to a level where it is now well positioned with competitive back-up power solutions for telecommunications, zero emission transportation products focused on early adopter markets and electrolyzer products for energy storage in the power utility market. Each of these areas will benefit from the Ontario Government funding.

“Developing and marketing innovative, clean technologies that reduce the carbon footprint is one of Ontario’s strengths, and a testimony of our growing impact in the global marketplace. Hydrogenics’ achievements will help ensure that Ontario remains at the forefront of hydrogen power research,” said Sandra Pupatello, Ontario Minister of Economic Development and Trade.

“Today’s announcement reconfirms the Ontario Government’s strong commitment to creating jobs in Ontario and supporting clean energy innovation,” said Daryl Wilson, Hydrogenics President and CEO. “Through development and commercialization of fuel cell and electrolyser technologies, we look forward to working together with this government for a strong, resilient Ontario.”

The funding term sheet is subject to various conditions, including completion of a definitive agreement by October 7, 2011. No assurances can be provided that Hydrogenics will satisfy the conditions included in the term sheet.

About Hydrogenics

Hydrogenics Corporation (www.hydrogenics.com) is a globally recognized developer and provider of hydrogen generation and fuel cell products and services, serving the growing industrial and clean energy markets of today and tomorrow. Based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, Hydrogenics has operations in North America and Europe.

Material designed for energy applications is 10 times faster than natural enzyme, uses inexpensive metals

RICHLAND, Wash. – Looking to nature for their muse, researchers have used a common protein to guide the design of a material that can make energy-storing hydrogen gas. The synthetic material works 10 times faster than the original protein found in water-dwelling microbes, the researchers report in the August 12 issue of the journal Science, clocking in at 100,000 molecules of hydrogen gas every second.

This step is just one part of a series of reactions to split water and make hydrogen gas, but the researchers say the result shows they can learn from nature how to control those reactions to make durable synthetic catalysts for energy storage, such as in fuel cells.

In addition, the natural protein, an enzyme, uses inexpensive, abundant metals in its design, which the team copied. Currently, these materials — called catalysts, because they spur reactions along — rely on expensive metals such as platinum.

“This nickel-based catalyst is really very fast,” said coauthor Morris Bullock of the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. “It’s about a hundred times faster than the previous catalyst record holder. And from nature, we knew it could be done with abundant and inexpensive nickel or iron.”

Stuffing Bonds

Electrical energy is nothing more than electrons. These same electrons are what tie atoms together when they are chemically bound to each other in molecules such as hydrogen gas. Stuffing electrons into chemical bonds is one way to store electrical energy, which is particularly important for renewable, sustainable energy sources like solar or wind power. Converting the chemical bonds back into flowing electricity when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing allows the use of the stored energy, such as in a fuel cell that runs on hydrogen.

Electrons are often stored in batteries, but Bullock and his colleagues want to take advantage of the closer packing available in chemicals.

“We want to store energy as densely as possible. Chemical bonds can store a huge amount of energy in a small amount of physical space,” said Bullock, director of the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis at PNNL, one of DOE’s Energy Frontier Research Centers. The team also included visiting researcher Monte Helm from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo.

Biology stores energy densely all the time. Plants use photosynthesis to store the sun’s energy in chemical bonds, which people use when they eat food. And a common microbe stores energy in the bonds of hydrogen gas with the help of a protein called a hydrogenase.

Because the hydrogenases found in nature don’t last as long as ones that are built out of tougher chemicals (think paper versus plastic), the researchers wanted to pull out the active portion of the biological hydrogenase and redesign it with a stable chemical backbone.

Two Plus Two Equals One

In this study, the researchers looked at only one small part of splitting water into hydrogen gas, like fast-forwarding to the end of a movie. Of the many steps, there’s a part at the end when the catalyst has a hold of two hydrogen atoms that it has stolen from water and snaps the two together.

The catalyst does this by completely dismantling some hydrogen atoms from a source such as water and moving the pieces around. Due to the simplicity of hydrogen atoms, those pieces are positively charged protons and negatively charged electrons. The catalyst arranges those pieces into just the right position so they can be put together correctly. “Two protons plus two electrons equals one molecule of hydrogen gas,” says Bullock.

In real life, the protons would come from water, but since the team only examined a portion of the reaction, the researchers used water stand-ins such as acids to test their catalyst.

“We looked at the hydrogenase and asked what is the important part of this?” said Bullock. “The hydrogenase moves the protons around in what we call a proton relay. Where the protons go, the electrons will follow.”

A Bauble for Energy

Based on the hydrogenase’s proton relay, the experimental catalyst contained regions that dangled off the main structure and attracted protons, called “pendant amines.” A pendant amine moves a proton into position on the edge of the catalyst, while a nickel atom in the middle of the catalyst offers a hydrogen atom with an extra electron (that’s a proton and two electrons for those counting).

The pendant amine’s proton is positive, while the nickel atom is holding on to a negatively charged hydrogen. Positioned close to each other, the opposites attract and the conglomerate solidifies into a molecule, forming hydrogen gas.

With that plan in mind, the team built potential catalysts and tested them. On their first try, they put a bunch of pendant amines around the nickel center, thinking more would be better. Testing their catalyst, they found it didn’t work very fast. An analysis of how the catalyst was moving protons and electrons around suggested too many pendant amines got in the way of the perfect reaction. An overabundance of protons made for a sticky catalyst, which pinched it and slowed the hydrogen-gas-forming reaction down.

Like good gardeners, the team trimmed a few pendant amines off their catalyst, leaving only enough to make the protons stand out, ready to accept a negatively charged hydrogen atom.

Fastest Cat in the West

Testing the trimmed catalyst, the team found it performed much better than anticipated. At first they used conditions in which no water was present (remember, they used water stand-ins), and the catalyst could create hydrogen gas at a rate of about 33,000 molecules per second. That’s much faster than their natural inspiration, which clocks in at around 10,000 per second.

However, most real-life applications will have water around, so they added water to the reaction to see how it would perform. The catalyst ran three times as fast, creating more than 100,000 hydrogen molecules every second. The researchers think the water might help by moving protons to a more advantageous spot on the pendant amine, but they are still studying the details.

Their catalyst has a drawback, however. It’s fast, but it’s not efficient. The catalyst runs on electricity — after all, it needs those electrons to stuff into the chemical bonds — but it requires more electricity than practical, a characteristic called the overpotential.

Bullock says the team has some ideas on how to reduce the inefficiency. Also, future work will require assembling a catalyst that splits water in addition to making hydrogen gas. Even with a high overpotential, the researchers see high potential for this catalyst.

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Reference: Monte L. Helm, Michael P. Stewart, R. Morris Bullock, M. Rakowski DuBois, Daniel L. DuBois, A Synthetic Nickel Electrocatalyst With a Turnover Frequency Above 100,000 s^-1 for H₂ Production, Science, August 12, 2011, DOI 10.1126/science.1205864 (http://www.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1205864).

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science.

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The mission of the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis is to develop a comprehensive understanding of molecular electrocatalysts that efficiently convert electrical energy into chemical bonds in fuels, or the reverse, convert chemical energy from fuels into electrical energy. To learn more about the Energy Frontier Research Centers, visit the Department of Energy’s EFRC website.

SOUTH WINDSOR, Conn. – UTC Power, a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX) company, today announced that one of its latest generation PureMotion^® System Model 120 fuel cell powerplants for hybrid-electric transit buses has surpassed 10,000 operating hours in real-world service with its original cell stacks and no cell replacements. This powerplant is aboard an Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit) bus operating in the Greater Oakland, Calif. area.

UTC Power has provided fuel cells for fleet transportation since 1998, powering buses in the United States, Spain, Italy and Belgium.  The Model 120 was introduced into commercial service in 2005 and represents more than nine years of research and development. It is a quiet, efficient, zero-emission proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system for heavy duty vehicles.

“The exceptional performance of the PureMotion product is a testament to UTC Power’s advanced fuel cell technology,” said Dana Kaplinski, manager of UTC Power’s transportation business. “The new technology we introduced in 2007 has surpassed our customers’ expectations. Buses equipped with the Model 120 fuel cell system have traveled more than 630,000 miles, a significant accomplishment as we continue to make progress toward the commercialization of fuel cell buses.”

There are now 18 transit buses in commercial service powered by PureMotion System Model 120 fuel cell powerplants. These buses are operating in California (AC Transit and SunLine Transit) and Connecticut (CTTransit).The Model 120 powerplants have consistently maintained 90 percent average availability while operating in commercial transit service since February 2008 – meaning the units are operational and available to power the buses on scheduled runs 90 percent of the time.  This reliability surpasses transit industry targets of 85 percent availability for conventional engines.

“Since late 2005, AC Transit has accumulated more than 400,000 miles of service and carried in excess of one million passengers on its fleet of fuel cell buses powered by UTC Power fuel cell power plants,” said Jaimie Levin, AC Transit’s Director of Alternative Fuels Policy and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Program Manager. “Our passengers love these buses, as well as our mechanics and drivers. We are extremely pleased and impressed with the performance of the UTC Power near-ambient pressure fuel cell system, and our entire staff is proud to be a part of the team that has reached this critical milestone.”

CTTransit is also pleased with the performance of the PureMotion Systems aboard their fleet of fuel cell-powered hybrid-electric transit buses. “CTTransit has operated fuel cell buses since 2007 and we have seen remarkable progress in powerplant durability,” said Steve Warren, assistant general manager-maintenance services for CTTransit. “We operate the newest fleet of four fuel cell buses in the same urban conditions and routes as our diesel fleet, from snowstorms to the recent heat wave, and their performance has been outstanding.”

In October 2010, CTTransit unveiled four next-generation fuel cell-powered hybrid-electric transit buses at their headquarters in Hartford, Conn. The four new buses joined another bus that has been in service since 2007 that is also powered by a fuel cell from UTC Power. The durability and reliability of the previous generation powerplant proved that the technology works and encouraged CTTransit to invest further in buses powered by the PureMotion System. To accommodate its growing fuel cell bus fleet, CTTransit is building a new garage to store up to six fuel cell buses and is installing a hydrogen fueling station at their headquarters.

Buses powered by the PureMotion System are more than two times more fuel efficient than a diesel-powered bus and are emission-free, generating no soot or smog-forming pollutants. Compared to a diesel version, every bus equipped with a UTC Power PureMotion system reduces nitrogen oxide emissions equivalent to removing 77 cars from the road per year and creates the same carbon dioxide benefits as planting 31 acres of forest.

London, UK–: Air Products has secured planning permission from Stockton on Tees Borough Council for its Tees Valley Renewable Energy Facility. The facility is the first of a number of energy from waste plants that Air Products will be looking to develop in the UK over the next few years.

The advanced gasification energy from waste (EfW) scheme, located at the New Energy and Technology Business Park, near Billingham, Teesside will convert pre-processed household and commercial waste currently going to landfill into baseload, renewable power for up to 50,000 homes in the North East. Producing 49MW of electricity from about 300,000 tonnes of waste, the facility is one of the largest advanced gasification projects planned for the UK.

Ian Williamson, European Hydrogen and Bioenergy Director at Air Products said: “We’re really pleased to have secured Stockton Council’s approval for our first energy from waste project in the UK.  Our facility will be using the latest and most advanced gasification technology to generate renewable power and at the same time, contribute towards Stockton Council’s environment, energy and economic investment objectives.”

The 49MW Tees Valley Renewable Energy Facility is Air Products’ first advanced gasification energy scheme to be developed in the UK.  The company anticipates that between 500 and 700 people will be employed during the project’s construction phase with 50 permanent jobs being created once the facility enters commercial operation. Air Products hopes to build up to five advanced gasification plants in the UK in the coming years, amounting to an investment of more than £1bn and with the potential to generate around 250MW of electricity.

“Air Products, along with our technology partner, AlterNRG, see Tees Valley as the first of a number of advanced gasification facilities that we wish to develop in the UK.  The UK is seeking more sustainable ways to manage and dispose of its waste, and is looking to diversify its sources of electricity generation: our technology is able to deliver on both counts” commented Ian, “In the longer-term, our technology can also produce renewable hydrogen and is being considered for a demonstration of Waste2Tricity’s fuel cell technology.  So our renewable energy facility could also play a part in the further development of the hydrogen economy, an area in which Air Products already has considerable experience.”

Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said: “I welcome the progress that Air Products has made with its project to bring advanced gasification to the UK. Energy from waste leads to considerable reductions in waste going into landfill, and makes an important contribution to the UK’s low-carbon energy supply. This new technology will be an exciting addition to the energy from waste sector and I look forward to seeing the announcement of more of these projects.”

The company has taken the project through the planning process in close collaboration with the site’s owners, Impetus Waste Management, and their planning and environmental consultant, Atkins.

Subject to the financing of the project given current support mechanisms and securing environmental permitting consent from the Environment Agency, work on site could start next year, with commercial operations starting in 2014.

A breakthrough towards replacing platinum in fuel cells

Quebec City, August 10, 2011 – Having pioneered the development of the first high-performance iron-based catalyst for fuel cells, researchers at INRS recently achieved a second major advance. They developed a new and improved iron-based catalyst capable of generating even more electric power in fuel cells for transportation applications. Previously, only platinum-based catalysts could produce similar performance.

The new research findings from the team of Professor Jean-Pol Dodelet were published in Nature Communications, a prestigious scientific journal part of the Nature Publishing Group. With these new and promising results, we bolster the prospect of iron-based catalysts replacing platinum ones in the electrochemical reduction of oxygen, one of two reactions needed to activate the electric power generator we call a fuel cell. Platinum is rare and very costly, whereas iron is the second most abundant metal on earth and is inexpensive.

“Thanks to this breakthrough we are nearing the day when we will be able to drive electric-electric hybrid vehicles —i.e. battery and fuel cell powered—, which can potentially free us from our current dependence on oil to power our cars,” said Professor Dodelet.

Working at the Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications Research Centre in Varennes (Québec), INRS scientists are now focusing on the improvement of the long-term stability (at least 5,000 hours) of these promising new catalysts. “The next step is the most important because it will automatically lead to a high value commercial product, not only for car manufacturers but also for all industrial sectors that use electric power generators or manufacture their components,” explained Mr. Dodelet.

About INRS

Institut national de recherche scientifique (INRS) is a graduate and post-graduate research and training university. One of Canada’s leading research universities in terms of grants per professor, INRS brings together some 150 professors and close to 700 students and postdoctoral fellows in its centers in Montreal, Quebec City, Laval, and Varennes. Conducting fundamental research essential to the advancement of science in Quebec as well as internationally, INRS research teams also play a critical role in developing concrete solutions to problems facing our society.

Source: Marc Lalancette, Communications Advisor
Communications and Public affairs Bureau
INRS
418-654-3775
marc.lalancette@adm.inrs.ca

California, Ohio, and Virginia Projects to Find Ways to Reduce Component and Manufacturing Costs

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy today announced nearly $7 million over five years for independent cost analyses that will support research and development efforts for fuel cells and hydrogen storage systems.  The four projects – in California, Ohio, and Virginia – will generate rigorous cost estimates  for manufacturing equipment, labor, energy, raw materials, and various components that will help identify ways to drive down production costs of transportation fuel cell systems, stationary fuel cell systems, and hydrogen storage systems.  These projects will provide important data that will help the Department focus future research and development funding on the fuel cell components and manufacturing processes that can deliver the greatest gains in efficiency.

“These projects will help advance our fuel cell and hydrogen storage research efforts and bring down the costs of producing and manufacturing next generation fuel cells,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “These technologies are part of a broad portfolio that will create new American jobs, reduce carbon pollution, and increase our competitiveness in today’s global clean energy economy.”

These projects will generate lifecycle cost analyses of existing and conceptual fuel cell systems for transportation and stationary applications.  The projects will analyze a range of system sizes, manufacturing volumes, and applications, including transportation, backup power and material-handling equipment such as forklifts.  Cost analyses are conducted by designing the system and conceptualizing its manufacturing process, selecting manufacturing equipment, determining labor and energy, and obtaining prices for materials and manufacturing equipment.  The design of systems and manufacturing process is guided and vetted through system models at National Laboratories, patent and literature research, presentation from developers, and peer review.

The four projects selected for award are:

• Directed Technologies, Inc. – Arlington, VA – up to $3 million for two projects
  Directed Technologies will conduct two cost analyses under these awards – one focused on transportation fuel cell systems and the other on hydrogen storage systems. The transportation fuel cell systems project will analyze and estimate the cost of transportation fuel cell systems for use in vehicles including light-duty vehicles and buses. The cost analyses of hydrogen storage systems will also examine various cost parameters including capital equipment, raw materials, labor, and energy to gain an understanding of system cost drivers and future pathways to lower system costs. The analyses will include rigorous annual cost estimates of fuel cell power systems or hydrogen storage systems that will help industry optimize the design of components and manufacturing processes at various rates of production. Sensitivity studies will examine how total manufacturing costs are affected by changes to the fuel cell system design and cost parameters such as platinum price, cell power density, operating pressure, operating temperature or the number of cells in the fuel cell stack.

• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – Berkeley, CA – up to $1.9 million
  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will develop total cost models for low- and high-temperature stationary fuel cell systems up to 250 kilowatts (kW).  This project will yield accurate projections of current system costs and assess the impacts of state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies, increases in production volume, and design changes on system and life-cycle costs for several near-term and emerging fuel cell markets.

• Battelle Memorial Institute – Columbus, OH – up to $2 million
  Over the course of this project, Battelle Memorial Institute will provide cost assessments for stationary fuel cell applications up to 25 kW, including forklifts, backup power units, primary power, and combined heat and power systems. The project will also provide cost analyses of large-scale fuel cell applications ranging from 100 to 250 kW, such as auxiliary power, primary power, and large-scale combined heat and power systems.  The analyses conducted under this project will provide a better understanding of performance, design and manufacturing options, and life-cycle costs, which will help optimize fuel cell designs, manufacturing methods, and target applications.

DURHAM, N.C. – While roofs across the world sport photovoltaic solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity, a Duke University engineer believes a novel hybrid system can wring even more useful energy out of the sun’s rays.

Instead of systems based on standard solar panels, Duke engineer Nico Hotz proposes a hybrid option in which sunlight heats a combination of water and methanol in a maze of glass tubes on a rooftop. After two catalytic reactions, the system produces hydrogen much more efficiently than current technology without significant impurities. The resulting hydrogen can be stored and used on demand in fuel cells.

For his analysis, Hotz compared the hybrid system to three different technologies in terms of their exergetic performance. Exergy is a way of describing how much of a given quantity of energy can theoretically be converted to useful work.

“The hybrid system achieved exergetic efficiencies of 28.5 percent in the summer and 18.5 percent in the winter, compared to 5 to 15 percent for the conventional systems in the summer, and 2.5 to 5 percent in the winter,” said Hotz, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering.

The paper describing the results of Hotz’s analysis was named the top paper during the ASME Energy Sustainability Fuel Cell 2011 conference in Washington, D.C. Hotz recently joined the Duke faculty after completing post-graduate work at the University of California-Berkeley, where he analyzed a model of the new system. He is currently constructing one of the systems at Duke to test whether or not the theoretical efficiencies are born out experimentally.

Hotz’s comparisons took place during the months of July and February in order to measure each system’s performance during summer and winter months.

Like other solar-based systems, the hybrid system begins with the collection of sunlight. Then things get different. While the hybrid device might look like a traditional solar collector from the distance, it is actually a series of copper tubes coated with a thin layer of aluminum and aluminum oxide and partly filled with catalytic nanoparticles. A combination of water and methanol flows through the tubes, which are sealed in a vacuum.

“This set-up allows up to 95 percent of the sunlight to be absorbed with very little being lost as heat to the surroundings,” Hotz said. “This is crucial because it permits us to achieve temperatures of well over 200 degrees Celsius within the tubes. By comparison, a standard solar collector can only heat water between 60 and 70 degrees Celsius.”

Once the evaporated liquid achieves these higher temperatures, tiny amounts of a catalyst are added, which produces hydrogen. This combination of high temperature and added catalysts produces hydrogen very efficiently, Hotz said. The resulting hydrogen can then be immediately directed to a fuel cell to provide electricity to a building during the day, or compressed and stored in a tank to provide power later.

The three systems examined in the analysis were the standard photovoltaic cell which converts sunlight directly into electricity to then split water electrolytically into hydrogen and oxygen; a photocatalytic system producing hydrogen similar to Hotz’s system, but simpler and not mature yet; and a system in which photovoltaic cells turn sunlight into electricity which is then stored in different types of batteries (with lithium ion being the most efficient).

“We performed a cost analysis and found that the hybrid solar-methanol is the least expensive solution, considering the total installation costs of $7,900 if designed to fulfill the requirements in summer, although this is still much more expensive than a conventional fossil fuel-fed generator,” Hotz said.

Costs and efficiencies of systems can vary widely depending on location – since the roof-mounted collectors that could provide all the building’s needs in summer might not be enough for winter. A rooftop system large enough to supply all of a winter’s electrical needs would produce more energy than needed in summer, so the owner could decide to shut down portions of the rooftop structure or, if possible, sell excess energy back to the grid.

“The installation costs per year including the fuel costs, and the price per amount of electricity produced, however showed that the (hybrid) solar scenarios can compete with the fossil fuel-based system to some degree,” Hotz said. ‘In summer, the first and third scenarios, as well as the hybrid system, are cheaper than a propane- or diesel-combusting generator.”

This could be an important consideration, especially if a structure is to be located in a remote area where traditional forms of energy would be too difficult or expensive to obtain.

Hotz’s research was supported by the Swiss National Science Fund. Joining him in the study were UC-Berkeley’s Heng Pan and Costas Grigoropoulos, as well as Seung H. Ko of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejon.

The light duty fuel cell vehicle (FCV) market is in a ramp up to commercialization. Automakers have diverged in their commitment to this market in recent years. Several of the major global automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have aggressive programs to develop a commercial FCV as part of their suite of sustainable vehicles, while others have pulled back. At the same time, a few new players have entered the arena, with the potential to disrupt the market. According to a new Pike Pulse report published by Pike Research, the two light-duty FCV manufacturers who are best positioned in this formative stage of the market are Daimler and Honda.

“Automakers will continue to refine their products between now and the 2014/2015 deadline for commercial launch,” says senior analyst Lisa Jerram. “In order to meet this target, the OEMs must continue to test and refine their fuel cell systems as well as the vehicle integration and optimization. They will also be focused on driving down vehicle costs.”

Jerram adds that Daimler attained the highest overall score in the Pike Pulse report, since it has laid out a clear path to producing a commercially viable FCV. Other contributing factors include its strong relationships with infrastructure and government partners and its recent announcement to partner with Linde on infrastructure development. However, Daimler has made ambitious announcements on fuel cell technology readiness in the past, and these did not come to fruition. The company recently moved up its target date to 2014 from 2015. If its proclaimed dates begin to slip, Daimler’s position could quickly change.

Honda is the runner-up in Pike Research’s analysis, based on the high-quality execution of its FCV, the Clarity, its efforts to lay the groundwork for a commercial launch, and its continued public commitment to FCV commercialization. Yet, the company must be careful in regards to the slow rollout of its Clarity fleet; if the rollout does not ramp up in 2011, Honda’s outlook could wane.

The “Pike Pulse Report: Light-Duty Fuel Cell Vehicles” evaluates 10 auto OEMs working on fuel cell vehicles and rates them on 12 criteria for strategy and execution, including go-to-market strategy, product portfolio, partnerships, innovation, reach, market share, pricing, and staying power. Using Pike Research’s proprietary Pike Pulse methodology, the OEMs are profiled, rated, and ranked with the goal of providing an objective assessment of these companies’ relative strengths and weaknesses in the market. An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the firm’s website.

Source: Pike Research

By Beata Mostafavi | Flint Journal

FLINT, Michigan — The Minister of Energy for the Dominican Republic will be visiting Kettering University Wednesday morning to meet with campus and city officials about using the technology of a Flint-based business in the country.

Energy minister Celso Marranzini and Dominican Republic dignitaries have been invited to the Innovation Center on Bluff Street to meet with Kettering President Robert McMahan, Flint Mayor Dayne Walling and Dr. Joel Berry, founder of Global Energy Innovations (GEI) and head of Kettering’s mechanical engineering department.

Discussions will include talk about utilizing GEI’s fuel cell technology on a large scale in the Dominican Republic, campus officials said.

GEI’s product can power commercial buses, military bases and homes on clean and efficient natural gas and has recently carved a spot as one of the leaders of Michigan’s future economy with back-to-back awards.

Lewis Center, OH –A critical challenge in the commercialization of solid oxide fuel cells is the selection and manufacture of components that will last for thousands of hours, but at an economical cost. Building on test results presented at the 12th DOE SECA Workshop July 27th, NexTech Materials, Ltd. has performed accelerated stability tests that predict a service life of over 40,000 hours at 750°C for low cost ferritic steel (AL 441 HP) interconnect components protected by its manganese-cobalt spinel (MCO) coatings.

This achievement represents a critical milestone for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). SOFCs generate electricity at extremely high efficiencies, but operate at high temperature, creating a number of engineering challenges. To date, SOFC system lifetime has been limited by the metal component oxidation. As demonstrated by NexTech, MCO protective coatings reduce the oxidation rate of ferritic steels by a factor of twenty or more. NexTech’s coating product leverages its exclusive world-wide license of coating technology patented by Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (AIM/ASX: CFU). The MCO coating leverages NexTech’s materials and sintering process technology to enhance the scalability and cost-effectiveness of the coating process.

NexTech Materials, Ltd. has also completed extensive manufacturing analyses of the protective coating process. A three-stage technology roadmap has been developed to provide SOFC developers component coating solutions at part counts ranging from prototyping to full volume production. Additional details regarding the coating solutions products, including toll coating services, technology licensing and technology transfer can be found at: www.nextechmaterials.com.

NexTech’s CEO, William Dawson commented on the milestone, “These results are encouraging for solving one of the key remaining practical limitations of solid oxide fuel cell technology”. NexTech is continuing to study a wide range of ferritic steels and will continue to collect additional lifetime predictive data over a wide range of temperatures.

About NexTech Materials, Ltd.

NexTech is a leading developer and supplier of materials, components and services for the fuel cell industry and is dedicated to reducing the manufacturing and operating costs of fuel cells and other electrochemical devices. NexTech’s customers are located in over 35 countries and include leading researchers, developers and manufacturers throughout the world.

NexTech Materials, Ltd. was founded as a privately held company in 1994 and has grown into one of Ohio’s leading technology companies. NexTech’s vision is to be a global leader in the development and manufacturing of innovative products for energy and environmental markets. NexTech recently expanded its manufacturing and R&D facilities located in Lewis Center, Ohio. NexTech has many products in the pipeline including fuel cell stacks for military and residential power applications, sensors for gas detection and control systems, catalysts for energy conversion systems, and membranes for gas separation devices.

Palace Hotel to be first apartment building in the city to produce its own electricity and heat via the ClearEdge Power system

LONG BEACH, Calif.–LINC Housing, a Long Beach-based nonprofit that builds and manages affordable housing throughout California, anxiously awaits the installation of two ClearEdge5 fuel cells at The Palace Hotel, a renovation project that will provide apartments for foster youth aging out of the system. Developed by ClearEdge Power, an Oregon-based manufacturer of high-efficiency stationary fuel cells, the ClearEdge5 system will enable LINC Housing to save money and reduce the impact of its apartment building on the environment by leveraging proprietary technology to cleanly and efficiently convert natural gas into electricity and heat. Installation is expected on August 4.

“Six years ago, LINC Housing made a commitment to building sustainable housing, and these fuel cells are certainly one of the highlights of that effort,” said Hunter L. Johnson, LINC’s president and CEO. “People think it’s not possible to bring new technology to the homes we build; as a nonprofit developer we are pleased to demonstrate that with partnerships and perseverance it can be done.”

Funding for the fuel cells was provided by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation through the National Trust Loan Fund.

In addition to the ClearEdge Power fuel cells, the building also has photovoltaic solar panels. The combination of these alternative energies should allow the project to generate the majority of the property’s electric demand on-site. The fuel cells will also generate enough heat to meet nearly all of the hot water demand for the entire building.

“With the Palace Hotel, LINC Housing has developed a model of sustainable living that leverages fuel cell technologies to significantly reduce costs and emissions,” said Mike Upp, vice president of marketing, ClearEdge Power. “We work with a variety of different builders, from high-end residential architects to affordable housing developers, to bring smart energy to businesses and homeowners today. The Palace Hotel is a perfect example of this, and by combining the ClearEdge5 system with its solar power implementation, the building will get 100 percent of its heat and energy from alterative sources.”

The ClearEdge5 is a 5-kilowatt fuel cell from ClearEdge Power that combines heat and power in a scalable solution that can meet individual business’ specific energy needs. Unlike power sources that use traditional combustion technology, the ClearEdge5 uses an electrochemical process to convert natural gas to electricity and heat. This process dramatically reduces the environmental impact of producing electricity by reducing carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 35 to 40 percent compared to traditional production from the power grid. Roughly the size of a standard refrigerator and incorporating a system for real-time remote monitoring, the innovative fuel cell technology also reduces other typical pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds, ash and particulates, to trace levels.

The Palace Hotel renovation, a collaboration of the City of Long Beach, the Long Beach Housing Development Company, LINC Housing and United Friends of the Children (UFC), features 13 studio apartments, a manager’s unit, common areas, offices where resident will receive services from UFC, as well as retail space on the first floor that may help employ some of the residents.

UFC will implement its groundbreaking Pathways to Independence program, giving former foster youth the opportunity to access the critical education, employment and life skills needed to become successfully independent – all while living in their own apartments. Residents at The Palace will be required to work and pay rent, in addition to attending weekly life-skills classes and regular meetings with their advocacy counselors.

The renovation should be completed in late August. The first residents are expected to move in early-October.

About LINC Housing Corporation
LINC Housing, one of California’s most productive nonprofit developers of affordable housing, has helped create more than 6,500 homes in 59 communities throughout the state. The organization’s properties are known for excellent design, outstanding management and life-enhancing services for its residents. LINC has 27 years of service to families, seniors, and local governments helping to create sustainable communities via new construction, acquisition and rehabilitation, and historic preservation. Visit www.linchousing.org for more information.

Folsom CA–Altergy Systems announced today that it’s Freedom Power™ hydrogen fuel cell systems are further expanding their global clean energy market penetration by supplying zero emissions power to the telecom industry in Jamaica.

An Altergy 5kW Freedom Power™ fuel cell system is currently running on a rooftop installation in Saint Andrew Plaza in Jamaica. It is designed and certified to run for 48 hours of uninterrupted back-up power and has been operational since December of 2010.

Altergy Rooftop Installations

Already the Jamaica fuel cell power system has proven its reliability by supplying immediate power for hundreds of power outages since being installed.  The 5kW Altergy Freedom Power® system is crucial for maintaining continuous telecom communication and is designed to be expandable to 10kW and simultaneous dual voltage (24VDC & -48VDC) for easy upgrading if needed by the client.

Eric Mettler, Altergy’s President and CEO says: “We’ve established a strong base in global telecommunications in recent years and the utilization of our clean power systems in Jamaica shows our ability to provide eco-friendly solutions to today’s numerous growing power demands on a worldwide basis”.

Folsom CA, July 28, 2011 – Altergy Systems announced today that it’s Freedom Power™ hydrogen fuel cell systems are now supplying clean “zero emission” power to Union Pacific Railroad in yet another eco-friendly back-up power application.

Union Pacific Stockton Facility	Easy “Turn Key” Installation

The first Altergy Freedom Power™ fuel cell system was recently installed at Union Pacific’s Stockton telecom facility where it is now supplying back-up power for telecommunications including railway switching, communication, and various other crucial railway demands.

Simple Set Up	Fully Operational in Hours

Union Pacific operates North America’s premier railroad franchise, covering 23 states in the western two-thirds of the United States. Union Pacific Railroad is also part of the SmartWay Transportation Partnership, an innovative collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency to increase energy efficiency while reducing greenhouse gasses and air pollution.

Altergy VP Mickey Oros and Union Pacific’s Regional Director Tommy Shadwick

“We are extremely pleased to be associated with a company as prestigious and historic as Union Pacific Railroad” says Eric Mettler, Altergy’s President and CEO. “Utilizing Altergy’s zero emission fuel cell systems demonstrates UP’s continuing dedication to being America’s “environmentally responsible transportation leader”. We’re definitely proud to “be on board” with Union Pacific in what we believe can be the first of many exciting new applications for our fuel cell systems for various transportation demands”.

………

About Altergy

Altergy Systems® is the global leader in the design, manufacture, sales, marketing and deployment of fuel cell based clean energy systems.  Altergy’s Freedom Power™ products provide freedom from the grid, freedom from foreign oil, freedom from traditional energy solutions, freedom from batteries and freedom from pollution and are “Changing the Way the World Gets Its Power.”

DANBURY, Conn.– FuelCell Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq:FCEL) a leading manufacturer of ultra-clean, efficient and reliable power plants, today announced the signing of two multi-year service agreements with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) to operate and maintain two 1.4 megawatt Direct FuelCell(R) power plants previously purchased and located at two California universities. FuelCell Energy was contracted to install the plants and will maintain the power plants under the service agreements. Both plants are installed and have generated power with full operation expected within the next few weeks.

Utility-owned fuel cell power plants provide ultra-clean distributed baseload generation which lessens reliance on the electrical transmission grid and represents incremental capacity that avoids or reduces investment in the electric transmission and distribution system.

“Services are a key portion of our value proposition to our customers and a cornerstone of our business model,” said Chip Bottone, President and Chief Executive Officer, FuelCell Energy, Inc. “Service agreements allow our customers to focus on their business while we focus our expertise on maintaining the power plants.”

FuelCell Energy offers a comprehensive portfolio of services for fuel cell power plants ranging from one to 20 years. Technicians and engineers remotely monitor and operate Direct FuelCell power plants globally, 24 hours per day, seven days per week, 365 days per year from the state-of-the-art Global Technical Assistance Center, located at the Company’s Danbury, Connecticut headquarters.

Mr. Bottone continued, “Services represents a long term and consistent source of revenue for the Company and is a key growth area, as demonstrated by this announcement.”

ACAL Energy, the developers of affordable and reliable fuel cell engines based on a platinum-free cathode technology, has appointed Michael Baunton CBE as an independent non-executive director.

Michael brings to ACAL Energy extensive experience in engineering and production worldwide, having worked within manufacturing for over 40 years. He has held senior executive roles with companies including Caterpillar Inc., Perkins Engines Company Limited and Tenneco Inc. He is currently Chairman of the Board of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Limited’s Industry Forum, and an independent non-executive director of TT Electronics plc. Michael was awarded a CBE in 2004 for services to the automotive and engineering industries in the UK.

“We’re delighted to welcome Michael to ACAL Energy”, said Dr SB Cha, CEO of ACAL Energy. “His experience and skills will complement those of our existing team, particularly in the area of stationary power.”

Michael Baunton commented: “I am very much looking forward to joining ACAL Energy at this important time in their development as they hit technology milestones and command increasing interest from potential commercial partners.”

Earlier this year, ACAL Energycompleted a funding round, securing total investments of £6.1 million.

VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA – Ocean innovation and research is alive and well at the University of Victoria, thanks to $1.19 million in federal funding announced today by the Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification.

Funding for UVic will help secure the powertrain equipment necessary to retrofit the former Tsekoa II into the world’s first plug-in hybrid “green ship” powered by electricity, hydrogen fuel cells and low-emission diesel fuel. The hybrid system will provide energy for low-speed maneuvering and station-keeping and will also supply high-quality power for ship systems, communications and instrumentation.

“Creating innovative and environmentally-friendly marine technologies is vital to the success of Canada’s clean energy sector,” said Minister Yelich. “Our government is proud to support this project.”

The new green ship technology has been created by UVic’s green transportation research team and BC’s marine engineering and alternative power system sectors. Project partners include the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Province of British Columbia, Ballard Fuel Systems and Techsol Marine.

By demonstrating this green ship technology, UVic is opening the door for a wide range of applications in the marine sector, both for research and commercial purposes. A hybrid system is quieter, more efficient and cleaner than traditional marine systems.

“This support for our world-class coastal research vessel is greatly appreciated and helps maintain Canada’s leadership in the design and application of clean energy technologies,” says UVic Vice-President Research Dr. Howard Brunt. “This project is an excellent example of how governments, industry and universities are working together to enhance the well being of Canadians.”

Western Economic Diversification Canada works with the provinces, industry associations and communities to promote the development and diversification of the western economy, coordinates federal economic activities in the West and advances the interests of western Canadians in national decision-making.

BOC has launched a new lightweight hydrogen cylinder containing the same amount of energy as 10 car batteries. It will provide the energy source for the Hymera fuel cell generator which was launched last year by BOC, a member of The Linde Group. Hymera is used in an array of low energy, high efficiency applications.

“Hydrogen has long been vaunted as the fuel source of the future. Now, with products like Hymera and the new cylinder, BOC is making the hydrogen economy a reality. Hymera is already being used in commercially viable applications for the rail, construction and security industries. The launch of the new cylinder brings widespread application a step closer,” says Stewart Dow, Packaged Energy Manager at BOC.

Hymera, the world’s first commercially-available hydrogen fuel cell portable power source is already being used in a range of off-grid applications such as construction and railway maintenance – and increasingly in lighting projects.

David Isherwood, Hire & Technical Director of the White Light Ltd, one of the UK’s largest live event lighting companies, has been offering Hymera to customers over the last year.

“We have been using a number of Hymera fuel cell power generators built into a self-contained off-grid lighting system. It is easy to set up and operate and the units have performed very well. Our customer base has responded positively to the innovative technology, finding many applications for it.”

The new cylinder could keep a modern laptop powered for almost a week of continuous usage. It is available from all BOC outlets, agents and delivery channels.

Call 0800 111 333 for more information.

Product specifications:

• The integrated valve regulator means that customers do not need to handle high pressure regulators and can simply connect the Hymera (or other fuel cell application) directly to the cylinder.
• When full, the cylinder weighs just over 10kg and contains 2m³ of hydrogen which, when converted to electricity via a 50% efficient fuel cell, generates just under 3kWh of electrical energy, the equivalent of 2,000 AA batteries.
• The output pressure of the regulator is controllable from 0 to 10 bar.

BlueGEN(R) receives product certification from the Australian Gas Association

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (AIM / ASX: CFU) a leading developer of high efficiency and low emission power products for homes and other buildings, is pleased to announce that the Company’s BlueGen gas to electricity generator has been certified by the Australian Gas Association (AGA) for installation as a gas appliance in Australia.

After rigorous testing and evaluation for compliance, AGA has certified the BlueGen to a new safety standard for fuel cell appliances. BlueGen is the first product to comply with this new standard in Australia.

BlueGen is now certified as a “Type A” gas appliance, which allows BlueGen units to be installed by a licensed and trained plumber / gasfitter as for any other typical gas appliance in Australia. BlueGen has also been certified for both indoor and outdoor installations. Previously the installation of BlueGen was restricted as a “Type B” appliance, meaning that the respective State Technical Regulator was required to inspect and approve each installation.

Over the past few months the Company has been working very closely with AGA. This work included the AGA liaising with the Australian Regulatory Authorities, extensively assessing the design of the BlueGen to relevant standards and conducting independent tests on a BlueGen unit at the AGA testing facilities.

AGA is an independent body which provides accredited product certification and testing services for the gas, electrical and plumbing industries in Australia. AGA product certification is based upon an independent technical assessment of a sample product against relevant safety standards (type-testing) and compliance with any other regulatory requirements.

BlueGen has also received full CE safety approval for installation in homes and other buildings in Europe. The Company is also working towards receiving BlueGen safety approval for North America by the end of the year.

BlueGen uses patented ceramic fuel cell technology to turn natural gas into electricity and heat for hot water, with the highest electrical efficiency of any small scale generating technology in the world. In Australia BlueGen units are installed in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra and Brisbane. BlueGen units are available to commercial customers through distributors Harvey Norman Commercial division and Hills Industries.