NEWS

August 2013 Fuel Cells Bulletin7

Nuvera’s PowerTap onsite hydrogen generation, compression, and storage equipment will all be located on a small pad located adjacent to the new facility. Dispensers will be located indoors, making refueling convenient for operators. Ace will also take advantage of Nuvera’s PowerTap+ service, which eliminates most of the upfront costs of bringing hydrogen to the site. Under this supply agreement, Nuvera retains ownership of the equipment, monitors performance remotely, and performs regular maintenance to ensure efficient, uninterrupted hydrogen delivery.

Nuvera Fuel Cells, Billerica, Massachusetts, USA. Tel: +1 617 245 7500, www.nuvera.com

Ace Hardware: www.acehardware.com

Plug Power: www.plugpower.com

Construction starts on ITM Power-to-Gas pilot unit in Germany

In Germany, the Thüga Group has started construction of its Power-to-

Gas pilot plant in Frankfurt am Main. The core of the 360 kW Power-to-Gas energy storage plant is the PEM electrolyser supplied by UK-based ITM Power [FCB, April 2013, p9].

The groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Thüga Group’s Power-to-Gas pilot plant recently took place on the Mainova site in Schielestrasse. Over the course of the plant’s operation, 13 Thüga partners will test Power-to-Gas storage technology using the gas distribution network. In addition to testing the technical feasibility, the companies are calling for framework conditions that will enable reliable and economical operation of this technology.

The ITM plant will be delivered to Frankfurt in September, and onsite commissioning and all necessary compliance (including CE marking and any local permitting) will have been completed by the end of December. The first permission, from the Frankfurt Water Authority, has already been achieved. By the end of 2013 the plant should be converting electricity into hydrogen for the first time, and feeding into the local gas distribution network. The plant will produce around 60 m3/h of hydrogen, and so feed 3000 m3/h of natural gas enriched with hydrogen into the grid. An expansion of the pilot plant is planned from 2016, and the hydrogen will then be converted to methane and fed into the gas distribution network.

The project partners include badenova, Erdgas Mittelsachsen, Energieversorgung Mittelrhein, erdgas schwaben, ESWE Versorgungs, Gasversorgung Westerwald, Mainova, Stadtwerke Ansbach, Stadtwerke Bad Hersfeld, Thüga Energienetze, WEMAG, and e-rp GmbH, with Thüga as project coordinator. The operational phase will be supervised by scientific project partners and by the Hesse ministry for environment, energy, agriculture and consumer protection.

In other news, ITM Power has joined the newly formed Mediterranean Power-to-Gas platform (MP2G), which will develop projects based on the integration of both wind and solar PV for Power-to-Gas energy storage across the Mediterranean region. The MP2G platform includes EDP and REN in Portugal, Enagas and Gas Natural in Spain, GDF Suez and TIGF in France, and Edison, Hydrogenics and SNAM in Italy.

The MP2G platform, managed by DNV KEMA, has been established to develop energy storage projects in the Mediterranean region for intermittent energy based on wind power and solar PV, whereas the recently established North Sea Power-to-Gas platform (NSP2G) is focused on wind power in the North Sea region [FCB, May 2013, p8].

Thüga Group: www.thuega.de (in German)

ITM Power: www.itm-power.com

DNV KEMA Energy & Sustainability: www.dnvkema.com

Acta in UK trial for domestic wind turbine energy storage

Italian-based Acta SpA is participating in a renewable energy storage trial

in the UK, to demonstrate the use of electrolysers to produce hydrogen from rainwater, utilising the excess energy produced by a domestic wind turbine.

The trial, paid for by the end-user, was initiated by Clean Power Solutions Ltd, which will install the trial this summer. Clean Power Solutions has encountered numerous situations where turbine permits have not been granted because the electricity grid is unable to accept the intermittent energy supply produced by renewable energy sources.

To cope with the increasing renewable energy supply in the UK, the national grid is starting to impose restrictions on how much renewable energy can be exported to the grid. This restriction is already in place in several Scottish Islands, South West England and Northern

ENERGY STORAGE

I N B R I E F

ISRO, Tata demo first Indian fuel cell busIn India, Tata Motors (www.tatamotors.com) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (www.isro.org) have unveiled the country’s first hydrogen fuel cell powered bus. The new bus – developed after several years of research – was demonstrated in a 5 km trial at the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, an ISRO facility in Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu, according to IndiaTimes.com.

ISRO has three decades of experience in producing, storing, and handling gaseous and liquid (cryogenic) hydrogen, including expertise in hydrogen safety. An ISRO team generated the technical specifications for all the components, and general specifications for the bus, which has the 150 bar hydrogen storage cylinders stored on its roof.

According to ISRO honorary adviser V. Gnana Gandhi, who led the technical team in this five-year project, ISRO and Tata Motors entered into a Memorandum of Understanding in 2006 to design and develop a bus using hydrogen with fuel cells [FCB, January 2008, p9]. The bus project also involved the government’s Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) and Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO).

Savannah, EngenuitySC hydrogen linkupThe US Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory (http://srnl.doe.gov/energy-secure.htm) has partnered with public/private partnership EngenuitySC (www.engenuitysc.com), to formally establish technology-based economic development collaborations between the South Carolina Midlands and SRNL to bring new innovations out of the lab and into the marketplace.

As part of the partnership, SRNL will join EngenuitySC’s NuHub initiative, a collaborative group of public, private, higher education, and workforce development stakeholders working to maximise economic and job creation opportunities for the nuclear industry in the Midstate region.

And because of its commitment to the development of hydrogen fuel cell technologies, SRNL will also play a pivotal role in providing technical expertise on hydrogen innovation to the region’s Fuel Cell Collaborative (www.fuelcellcollaborative.com) for selected projects over the next several months. Launched in 2006, the Fuel Cell Collaborative is a collaboration between the SCRA applied research and commercialisation agency, City of Columbia, University of South Carolina, Midlands Technical College, and EngenuitySC to discover, develop, and deploy the world’s top hydrogen and fuel cell innovations from Columbia [see the South Carolina feature in FCB, March 2010].

NEWS

August 2013 Fuel Cells Bulletin11

FCH Research Grouping: www.nerghy.eu

FCH 2 Proposal: http://tinyurl.com/fch2-proposal

Horizon 2020:

http://ec.europa.eu/research/horizon2020/index_en.cfm

Danish DuraPEM fuel cell durability project extended to 2016

In Denmark, the DuraPEM project to study PEM fuel cell durability and

lifetime has been extended for another three-year period. The project, coor-dinated by IRD Fuel Cell, has reported excellent research results in its first two phases since it was initiated in 2007. The DuraPEM III project will benefit from previously obtained results, and the plan is to include promising new components in the durability study and benefit from other fuel cell work results.

A prime focus at IRD Fuel Cell is to increase the lifetime and durability of its membrane-electrode assemblies (MEAs), bipolar plates, and fuel cell systems. For the last six years IRD has been coordinator of the national Danish initiative, supported through the ForskEL programme, to improve the lifetime of PEM fuel cells for stationary applications. The other participants are Danish Power Systems, the Institute of Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Environmental Technology at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), and DTU Energy Conversion (Technical University of Denmark).

ForskEL has recently agreed to continue support for another three-year period, provid-ing DKK12 million (US$2.1 million) of the DKK14.2 million ($2.5 million) total project budget. The ForskEL programme supports R&D for environmentally friendly technologies for elec-tricity generation. It is run by Energinet.dk, the Danish national electricity and gas transmission system operator, and is financed by tariffs on elec-tricity transmission in the high-voltage grid.

The factors affecting PEMFC performance degradation have gradually been recognised. New challenges have been encountered, and some of the bottlenecks for improving durability have been identified. DuraPEM III is directed at systematically addressing key durability issues, from the individual materials to the stack level. This will establish a profound level of under-standing with respect to optimised materials and technologies that improve durability.

Mitigation strategies for lifetime enhance-ments will be formulated to meet the challeng-ing Danish durability roadmap targets. Since the

basic degradation mechanisms are similar, the integration of the two Danish PEMFC technol-ogy tracks (low- and high-temperature) in one project is expected to increase durability to (and potentially beyond) the Danish roadmap targets.

IRD Fuel Cell A/S, Svendborg, Denmark. Tel: +45 6363 3000, www.ird.dk

DuraPEM III: www.ird.dk/News/DuraPEM-III.aspx

ForskEL programme: www.forskel.dk

Energinet.dk: www.energinet.dk/en/forskning

3M, Colorado School of Mines in projects to cut fuel cell costs

The US Department of Energy has announced a $4.5 million

investment in two projects – led by Minnesota-based 3M, and the Colorado School of Mines – to lower the cost, improve the durability, and increase the efficiency of next-genera-tion fuel cell systems.

The new projects will continue research and development work aimed at making cost-effec-tive, high-performance fuel cell membranes that can operate under hotter and drier conditions. For example, 3M will receive $3 million to focus on developing innovative fuel cell mem-branes with improved durability and perfor-mance, using processes which are easily scalable to commercial size.

The new investment will build on a three-year, $3.1 million DOE project awarded to 3M early last year, to develop a durable, low-cost, and high-performance membrane-electrode assembly for use in mass-produced fuel cell electric vehicles, based on integration of 3M’s nanostructured thin-film catalyst technology platform with other MEA components [FCB, April 2012, p8].

Meanwhile, the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) will receive $1.5 million to develop advanced hybrid membranes for next-generation fuel cells that are simpler and more affordable, while able to operate at higher temperatures.

Last autumn the Colorado Fuel Cell Center at CSM linked up with Independent Energy Partners and Delphi Corporation to conduct lab and pre-field testing of a prototype, in situ Geothermic Fuel Cell™ system based on solid oxide fuel cell tech-nology [FCB, December 2012, p11].

DOE Fuel Cell Technologies Office: www.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells

3M Fuel Cell Components Program: www.3m.com/fuelcells

Colorado Fuel Cell Center, Colorado School of Mines: www.coloradofuelcellcenter.org

I N B R I E F

ITM on track with refuelers for EcoIslandIn the UK, ITM Power (www.itm-power.com) reports that its contribution to the EcoIsland project in the Isle of Wight (www.eco-island.org) is proceeding ahead of schedule, with the design work largely complete and long-lead-time components ordered [see the EcoIsland feature in FCB, October 2012]. The planning application for the larger refueler has been submitted, and planning permission is anticipated within three months. The refuelers are expected to be delivered to the Island in April 2014, with commissioning due for completion in October, ready for the trial to start in November.

ITM Power is responsible for the design, build, and commissioning of this equipment, together with overall project management and coordination with other consortium partners. For example, the company is working closely with Toshiba and IBM to achieve effective integration of the refueling stations into a wider energy system being deployed on the Island.

UConn, Fraunhofer for energy researchThe University of Connecticut has partnered with the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection and Fraunhofer USA Inc (www.fraunhofer.org) – a subsidiary of the German Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft research organisation – to establish the Fraunhofer Center for Energy Innovation.

The facility – under director Prabhakar Singh, professor of materials science and engineering – will focus on developing advanced technologies for energy storage, fuel cells, power management, and distribution. Working with industry, the centre’s R&D will concentrate on modern functional materials, such as metals, ceramics, micro- and nanostructures, as components for fuel cells and electrolysers.

Last year Connecticut-based FuelCell Energy (www.fce.com) set up the FuelCell Energy Solutions GmbH (www.fces.de/?lang=en) joint venture with the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS in Germany [FCB, May 2012, p1].

Japan vision for ‘platinum valley’ in SAJapan plans to encourage a ‘platinum valley’ in South Africa similar to Silicon Valley in the US, according to a spokesman in the Japanese embassy in Pretoria.

‘What we want to do is encourage South Africa to establish a kind of ‘platinum valley’ here similar to Silicon Valley in California,’ Ken Okinawa told Business Day BDlive in South Africa. ‘This facility would aim to find new uses for platinum, while also addressing issues such as job creation and beneficiation.’ He added that a senior Japanese fuel cell expert would shortly be travelling to South Africa to promote this [see the HySA feature in FCB, June 2013].