The markets for stationary fuel cell generation are very large and include base-load applications in government, military services and industry, emergency power backup for mission critical applications including telecommunications, medical care and facilities management hospitals, larger hotels and computer systems.
Fuel cells are relatively quiet and are therefore suitable for local power generation. The advantage is that the excess heat can be used for heating and hot water, and at the same time both the grid loss and the need for developing and strengthening the power grid is reduced.
Electrical efficiency is quite high even in small systems and at low loads. Combination of fuel cells and turbines in an optimised network can produce electricity at an efficiency of 70-80%.
The other advantage of fuel cell exhaust consists exclusively water. Fuel cells run on hydrogen gas that can be produced from variety of fuels including natural gas, propane, bio-diesel, methanol, and gasoline.
Large-scale stationary power is the longest running application for fuel cells worldwide. Since the first field trials in the 1970s, a total of 650 complete systems have been built with an electrical output in excess of 10kW (although the average is in fact nearer 200kW). Almost ninety percent of these have been fuelled by natural gas, although interest in alternative fuels such as biogas and coal gas is growing.
Indeed, in technology terms the large stationary market is now at a crossroads, as the chart below indicates: PAFC is beginning to be superseded by MCFC and PEMFC, while SOFC is shaping up to take a significant share of future markets, especially if the number of developers active in this technology is any indication.
Progress in the development and deployment of small stationary fuel cells (electrical output less than 10kW) has continued at a high level, with the cumulative number of systems almost doubling from 1,000 to 1,900. Typically described as residential systems, these have been designed for a number of markets, ranging from UPS and back-up power in commercial and remote locations to household power. Most have been fuelled by natural gas, and just under half have been developed in the USA.
In technology terms, SOFC now has a 20 percent share of a market otherwise taken up by PEMFC. Small stationary development in Japan, which is primarily aimed at residential markets, is concentrating on PEMFC alone, and is making good progress towards the introduction of the first products in 2005. Notably, a number of small stationary fuel cell units are now on open sale, including the Plug Power GenCore (5kW, US$15,000)
Japan, where support for the technology has been strong for many years. The Japanese government has bankrolled stationary fuel cell development since the early 1980s, and Japanese companies such as Tokyo Gas and Osaka Gas have undertaken some of the world’s largest field trials of stationary fuel cell systems.
Government support in the USA has also been significant, notably from the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense, which has conducted a PAFC demonstration programme at thirty military sites since 1994.
As the chart below suggests, most of the systems operated to date are phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) systems, the most technically and commercially advanced technology in stationary applications. In great part this reflects the large number of 200kWe (e = electrical) PC25 systems sold since the early 1990s by UTC Fuel Cells (until recently International Fuel Cells), which was also involved in PAFC field trial programmes in the USA in the 1970s and 1980s. PC25 systems have been installed around the world in a wide range of applications, including a bank in Omaha (as a premium power and heat supply), a school in Basle, Switzerland and a postal sorting facility in Alaska.
Below are outline details on a number of companies active in this area, organised by technology type:
Alkaline Fuel Cells (AFC)
At present, there are very few signs that Alkaline Fuel Cell Technology will be used in large-scale stationary power applications. However, in the past a few systems have been built with an electrical output in excess of 10kW. In the 1980s Siemens (Germany) built a 48kW system, which was tested as part of a German defence programme. In addition, a 40kW AFC system was constructed in the 1980s by Elenco (Belgium/Netherlands), which was mounted on a trailer and used as a power source in geological field-work.
Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells (MCFC)
• Ansaldo Fuel Cells (Italy) was formed in December 2001 .It is developing molten carbonate fuel cell power plants ranging in size from 100kW to 30MW. The new company will initially concentrate on the "Series 500" unit, designed as a market entry model with power up to 500kW. A 100kW proof-of-concept MCFC plant has been built and successfully demonstrated, and the construction of several demonstration units in the 100-500kW power range running off a variety of fuels is at the planning stage. The first multi-MW unit is scheduled to be built in 2004, and the first commercial sales are expected to take place in 2005.
• Fuel Cell Energy (USA) has, in various incarnations, been developing molten carbonate fuel cell technology since the 1970s. It has developed an internal reforming MCFC called the Direct FuelCell™ (DFC), which is now being developed and commercialised at the 250kW level. Units of this size are now being manufactured at its Connecticut facility, which currently has a production capacity of 50MW per year. By 2004 FuelCell Energy expects to extend its product range to include 1.5MW and 3MW units. FuelCell Energy has distribution agreements with Caterpillar (for US markets) and Marubeni (Asia and Australasia).
• In Japan, MCFC R & D has been supported by the government since 1981. Development work is now largely in the hands of IHI, plans to construct two 300kW units in 2002. In March 2002 Japan’s MCFC Research Association announced that it had started operation of a 10 kW class MCFC unit fuelled by natural gas, which will be tested for 3000 hours. In this project IHI designed and manufactured the MCFC stack and test facility.
• MTU Friedrichshafen (Germany), a DaimlerChrylser subsidiary, is developing MCFC power plants based on a longstanding license and technology agreement with FuelCell Energy, which supplies the MCFC stacks it uses in its systems. MTU has developed the 250kW HotModule, a highly integrated package incorporating one fuel cell stack and all necessary hot components in a single vessel. A prototype cogeneration system has been operating at the University of Bielefeld since 1999, and a second unit was started up at a German hospital in May 2001. Installation of seven more units in 2002-3 is now underway, the first with utility RWE in Essen, Germany.
Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell (PAFC)
• Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (India) commenced R & D of Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cells in 1987, and built its first stack in 1991. More recently it has developed a 50kW PAFC power plant, the largest fuel cell system to be developed in India to date. Consisting of two 25kW stacks this was successfully tested for 500 hours in 2001.
• Fuji Electric (Japan) has been developing PAFC technology since the 1980s. 50kW and 100kW PAFC systems have been commercially available since the late 1990s, and have proven to be highly reliable and durable. Almost 100 units have so far been sold, and Fuji Electric is now rolling out second generation systems designed for high performance and lower cost.
• UTC Fuel Cells (USA) is presently the leading manufacturer of commercial stationary fuel cell systems. Over 245 units of its 200kW PC25™ fuel cell power plant have been installed around the world since the system was launched in the early 1990s. PC25 systems provide clean, reliable power at a range of locations including a New York City police station, a major postal facility in Alaska and a science centre in Japan.
Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC)
• Ballard Generation Systems (BGS) was formed to commercialise PEMFC stationary generators that use Ballard fuel cells. It is presently conducting field trials of 250kW PEM fuel cell power plants with partners in the USA, Japan and Europe, which are scheduled to run until 2003. The system is primarily designed to run off natural gas, although one unit installed by Ebara Ballard at the Nishimachi Sewage Treatment Centre in Japan is fuelled by waste gas from an anaerobic digestor, the first PEM system do so.
• Hydrogenics has developed a compact 25 kW PEMFC (named the HyPM™) from initial design and rapid prototyping to final testing and commissioning. This module (which will be available in varying power outputs, from 10kW to 120kW) is integrated into the company’s HyUPS™ system (UPS=Uninterruptible Power Supply). Unveiled in October 2001, this is a regenerative backup power generator, initially designed for telecommunications back-up power markets.
• Plug Power is concentrating on the development of small stationary
Systems under 10kW, it has built larger systems. In 2001 it delivered a 50kW hydrogen-fuelled system to Air Products and Chemicals for installation in a hydrogen vehicle refuelling station in Las Vegas, Nevada. Its future development plans for systems of this size have not been made public.
Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC)
• Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd (CFCL) Established in 1992, Australia, is focusing on producing flat-plate solid oxide fuel cell systems. In 2001 it opened a new engineering facility to enable production of its first 40kW prototype by Q3 2002. Its first product will be a natural gas fuelled 40kW fuel cell aimed at small to mid-sized industrial and commercial customers.
• Rolls-Royce (UK) established a solid oxide fuel cell programme in 1992, and has developed a novel stack, termed an Integrated Planar Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (IP-SOFC). After years of research into fundamentals is now starting to bring the technology out of the lab. It is developing a low cost production process, and has designed a hybrid 1MW power plant, which combines an 800kW SOFC with a 200kW Rolls-Royce Gas Turbine. It expects to have prototype systems in place in 2004-5, and to begin selling units in 2005-6.
• Siemens Westinghouse (USA) is leading the way in the development of tubular SOFC technology for stationary power. It has successfully operated a 100kW cogeneration SOFC in the Netherlands and Germany, and a 220kW proof-of-concept hybrid SOFC/Gas Turbine power plant is currently being tested in California by utility Southern Californian Edison. More field trials are scheduled, including the installation of a 1MW SOFC/Gas Turbine system in Europe in 2003. Siemens Westinghouse expects to manufacture its first commercial product, a 250kW combined heat and power (CHP) system, from 2003.
• In Japan Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Chubu Electric Power have operated a 30 cell SOFC stack for 7,500 hours, attaining a maximum output of 15kW. They plan to commercialise a system around 2004. Other developers of SOFC technology in Japan include Electric Power Development Co, which is developing a 100kW SOFC power plant, fuelled by natural gas.
Last Update: Thursday 11 December 2008 Time: 23:31