So I was planning on doing the first annual 'Fuel Cell Year in Review' sometime this month, but I've been busy plotting the global takeover by high temp PEM. More about that when I get rid of that darn cloak of silence. But while I've been procrastinating, things have been popping, and not just hydrogen dirigibles.
Hopefully I'll be able to go into more detail shortly on these events:
Biggest dollar deal: Abu Dhabi, the largest emerite in the UAE and home of the capital Abu Dhabi city, has funded a clean energy project to the tune of $15 billion which includes (you fuel cell fans note the difference between 'renewables' and 'clean energy') solar, wind, and hydrogen. The hydrogen production facility will have the capacity to produce 420 MW of electricity by reforming natural gas and sequestering 90% of the CO2. The plant is due to come on line in 2012, so hopefully there's plenty of time to squeeze some fuel cell action rather than giving it all up to hydrogen combustion turbines (are you listening waste hydrogen market seekers?)
Next big deal: Along the waste hydrogen lines, HydroGen has managed to talk electronics and consumer DMFC leader into signing as the Asian distributor for its yet-to-be-built 400 kW - 4 MW olde tyme technology PAFC plants. Samsung is clearly jealous of POSCO's deal with FuelCell Energy and is aware of Korea's $.28 feed-in tariff and pro-DG spark spread. I wish them luck.
Commercial News: German Smart SFC Fuel Cells is booking lots of wholesale orders for its small RV APU methanol fueled units, in the 300W range. It has a handle on the distribution of the methanol cartridges throughout the EU. Excellent for getting FCs in the public domain.
Ballard Stays on Top: Ballard signs up its second forklift power OEM (first was Excide for a tribrid) in Danish H2 Logic just in case Plug never gets it together with the Cellex and GH packages)
To Be Continued...
Friday, January 25, 2008
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Year End News: Nippon in India, FCE Partial Victory
Nippon Oil has stepped off the shores of Honshu in its quest for mCHP markets, surfacing in beautiful, bustling, downtown Mumbai. It is currently in negotiations with Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) to bring its ENEOS (there is nothing like a fuel cell product with a real live trade name) residential cogeneration product to India. Could NOC be eyeing the not so shabby grid-challenged Indian residential market? We'll have to see how this plays out - LPG predominates in India, so it would be a bigger win for the Sanyo Technology NOC recently purchased (see FuelCellIntel Nov. posting) than for Ballard whose stack is used in the NOC kerosene-fueled product. Ebara Ballard is licensed to manufacture the Ballard stacks in Japan when they go commercial in 2009-2010, so Burnaby, BC won't be filled up with Ballard manufacturing facilities (that's an optimistic thought).
And while we're on optimistic thoughts, FuelCell Energy finally got some business approved by the Connecticut DPU. The optimism is needed because the orders approved are for only 16.2 MW of the 68 MW worth recommended last spring. I thought the 68 was a stretch, and FCE's manufacturing capacity has been pushed to the limit with outstanding California (Linde) and Korean (POSCO) orders in the pipeline, and its changeover to the advanced (20% more power output) Direct Fuel Cell product manufacturing. There will be another review of the CT projects in January, but I'd say the future still looks pretty rosy for FCE.
And in Europe, watch for Morphic eating little FC firms and while it extends its continental reach from north to south. It may have a rational plan and enough expertise and financing to bring fuel cells to the EU people, so I wish the enterprise luck.
I hope everyone has safe and happy holidays, particularly today - Boxing Day and the first day of Kwanzaa. May the next year be cleaner, greener, and more peaceful for all despite the wonders of endless political debate and lack of constructive policies and action.
And while we're on optimistic thoughts, FuelCell Energy finally got some business approved by the Connecticut DPU. The optimism is needed because the orders approved are for only 16.2 MW of the 68 MW worth recommended last spring. I thought the 68 was a stretch, and FCE's manufacturing capacity has been pushed to the limit with outstanding California (Linde) and Korean (POSCO) orders in the pipeline, and its changeover to the advanced (20% more power output) Direct Fuel Cell product manufacturing. There will be another review of the CT projects in January, but I'd say the future still looks pretty rosy for FCE.
And in Europe, watch for Morphic eating little FC firms and while it extends its continental reach from north to south. It may have a rational plan and enough expertise and financing to bring fuel cells to the EU people, so I wish the enterprise luck.
I hope everyone has safe and happy holidays, particularly today - Boxing Day and the first day of Kwanzaa. May the next year be cleaner, greener, and more peaceful for all despite the wonders of endless political debate and lack of constructive policies and action.
The Ethiopian-Caltech Fuel Cell Connection
Kudos are showing up from all over the world, particularly from the Ethiopian diaspora, due to an article appearing in Newsweek online http://www.newsweek.com/id/81389 and in print (page 82, 12/31 issue) about my second favorite Caltech professor (still first is my former advisor, math Prof. Gary Lorden still going strong and remaining as the technical consultant and chief advisor for CBS's 'Numb3rs') Sossina Haile.
Dr. Haile has remained a dedicated full-time professor while her former grad students are running with her innovative SAFC (solid acid fuel cell) technology with the solidly-funded SuperProtonics Corp. in Pasadena. She is a dogged and intense researcher who has risen from her refugee roots to the top of the FC research world. I've spent time with her husband (through an incredible coincidence), heard her boys, and been figuratively blown away by her technology with a one-on-one poster presentation she gave me in Palm Springs, and I can say the Newsweek article does not exaggerate a thing. Her FC technology is the only one with a working temperature between 200° C (PAFC) and Ceres' 500° cerium-based SOFC, and it could hit the thermal sweet spot for fuel cells. Business development VP Sami Mardini says SuperProtonics will be putting small stacks in the hands of integrators throughout 2008, looking for a 2009 - 2010 market introduction. This could be in line with the 'conventional' SOFC developers like CFCL, Acumentrics, Topsoe, and certainly Ceres who appear to be poised for commercialization, so Sossina's third child has a real chance to grow up strong and healthy like her human ones.
SuperProtonics board member, and former NJ senator, NY Knick, and top-fight presidential candidate Bill Bradley, has (of course) full confidence in the product and technology.
Dr. Haile has remained a dedicated full-time professor while her former grad students are running with her innovative SAFC (solid acid fuel cell) technology with the solidly-funded SuperProtonics Corp. in Pasadena. She is a dogged and intense researcher who has risen from her refugee roots to the top of the FC research world. I've spent time with her husband (through an incredible coincidence), heard her boys, and been figuratively blown away by her technology with a one-on-one poster presentation she gave me in Palm Springs, and I can say the Newsweek article does not exaggerate a thing. Her FC technology is the only one with a working temperature between 200° C (PAFC) and Ceres' 500° cerium-based SOFC, and it could hit the thermal sweet spot for fuel cells. Business development VP Sami Mardini says SuperProtonics will be putting small stacks in the hands of integrators throughout 2008, looking for a 2009 - 2010 market introduction. This could be in line with the 'conventional' SOFC developers like CFCL, Acumentrics, Topsoe, and certainly Ceres who appear to be poised for commercialization, so Sossina's third child has a real chance to grow up strong and healthy like her human ones.
SuperProtonics board member, and former NJ senator, NY Knick, and top-fight presidential candidate Bill Bradley, has (of course) full confidence in the product and technology.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
What is Intelligence?
Sorry for the short hiatus, but I got hung up last Tuesday with our president's press conference. Problem was, here I am talking from the 'Fuel Cell Intelligence' point of view, and he seemed to totally redefine the meaning of the word. 'Intelligence' particularly in regard to the latest foreign intelligence assessment regarding the state of Iran's nuclear program, immediately became 'not intelligence', or just plain 'wrong'. Although there might have been misunderestimating going on, his pronouncement did cause me to rethink the term, putting it in a new subjective light, perhaps freeing me from reliance on all facts in the reporting on 'intelligence'.
Let me comment on some minor fuel cell announcements the past week that fit into this category:
1. Medis received permission for its 'fuel cell' multi-battery charger to be carried on commercial airplanes. This is not so significant FC industry news, because the Medis disposable package is not a fuel cell by definition.
2. Italian (with intense Japanese backing) catalyst innovator Acta is riding on the success of its product's ability to reform hydrogen out of ammonia, reporting the smell is the only remaining problem. Admittedly, ammonia is a liquid and as such a much easier fuel to transport or store than hydrogen, but it is manufactured by combining some of the 79% of the atmosphere that is nitrogen with manufactured hydrogen. That is, one of the major uses for industrial hydrogen which the hydrogen energy industry has to compete is the production of ammonia, mainly used for fertilizer. Therefore it seems that in the long run, or even the short run, methanol, ethanol, or hydrogen stored and transported through novel methods now being perfected have much more of a future as fuels for fuel cells than ammonia. I may be wrong on this, but, if so, talk to me.
3. Finally, FC news maker Hydra first reported a Latin American distributor of gypsum wall board had been sign to sell its residential CHP fuel cell in that region. Although I did not call Frank Neukomm, the holding company CEO, again - he was very forthcoming last spring - this deal seems to be quite a reach for me. I don't think the distributor, whom I could not find through google or any industry listings, has trained with Dr. Mike Binder or Logan Energy in the not so easy installation of fuel cell CHP systems. And although Hydra then announced a second residential system sale to a customer in Florida, the excerpt from its 10-K disclosure statement on December 5 states that the company has had no (0) (zero) revenue thus far, and will have trouble surviving past the end of the calendar year. But I sure love those press releases!
Time to get back to the old intelligence - like FuelCell Energy's reported (its reports have always been 100% above board) sale of two 2.4 MW DFCs to POSCO in Korea, continuing to embarrassingly outpace its 'subsidy approved' potential 68 MW worth of business involving the State of Connecticut's Project 100, with most individual projects bogged down in bureaucracy.
Let me comment on some minor fuel cell announcements the past week that fit into this category:
1. Medis received permission for its 'fuel cell' multi-battery charger to be carried on commercial airplanes. This is not so significant FC industry news, because the Medis disposable package is not a fuel cell by definition.
2. Italian (with intense Japanese backing) catalyst innovator Acta is riding on the success of its product's ability to reform hydrogen out of ammonia, reporting the smell is the only remaining problem. Admittedly, ammonia is a liquid and as such a much easier fuel to transport or store than hydrogen, but it is manufactured by combining some of the 79% of the atmosphere that is nitrogen with manufactured hydrogen. That is, one of the major uses for industrial hydrogen which the hydrogen energy industry has to compete is the production of ammonia, mainly used for fertilizer. Therefore it seems that in the long run, or even the short run, methanol, ethanol, or hydrogen stored and transported through novel methods now being perfected have much more of a future as fuels for fuel cells than ammonia. I may be wrong on this, but, if so, talk to me.
3. Finally, FC news maker Hydra first reported a Latin American distributor of gypsum wall board had been sign to sell its residential CHP fuel cell in that region. Although I did not call Frank Neukomm, the holding company CEO, again - he was very forthcoming last spring - this deal seems to be quite a reach for me. I don't think the distributor, whom I could not find through google or any industry listings, has trained with Dr. Mike Binder or Logan Energy in the not so easy installation of fuel cell CHP systems. And although Hydra then announced a second residential system sale to a customer in Florida, the excerpt from its 10-K disclosure statement on December 5 states that the company has had no (0) (zero) revenue thus far, and will have trouble surviving past the end of the calendar year. But I sure love those press releases!
Time to get back to the old intelligence - like FuelCell Energy's reported (its reports have always been 100% above board) sale of two 2.4 MW DFCs to POSCO in Korea, continuing to embarrassingly outpace its 'subsidy approved' potential 68 MW worth of business involving the State of Connecticut's Project 100, with most individual projects bogged down in bureaucracy.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Tuesday's News rife with FC Commercialization
I hope to make some individual posts on the recent news, perhaps tonight. But to sum up:
FuelCell Energy, while still waiting on orders for its CT Project 100 68 MW worth of installations and the still holding Freedom Tower potential, has had its partnership with German Gas Giant Linde bear its first fruit. Linde secured 4 orders for California wastewater treatment totaling 3.9 megawatts. the units are the new technology (20% more power) DFCs, 3/1.2 MW and 1/300 kW. Linde has a bunch (100's) of ww plants as customers, primarily in Germany, but otherwise scattered around the world. CA offers the biggest subsidy, but this bodes well for the future.
Hydrogenics, following fellow canuck Ballard's lead by leaning down its non-FC power business, recently laying off a bunch test equipment employees, has received a follow-on order for 3 of its German midi-buses. The buses will be used in a high-profile Water and Clean development conference in Spain next summer. It's still a shame that FCs remain so low-profile in the US.
In Japan, Matsushita(Panasonic) and Toshiba FC both announced plans for gearing up to mass-produce their mCHP systems to the order of 10,000/year by 2010/2011. Ebara made a similar non-specific announcement with their own Ballard-licensed production, and Nippon Oil clearly has plans (and the resources) to do the same with its recently purchased Sanyo technology and production facilities. They are all assuming they will be able to bring down the reformer cost by then, whether they move to HT PEM or find another solution. Or else they'll have a lot of residential fuel cell systems for sale cheap to anyone with a bunch of hydrogen.
And lastly, on my home front, UMass Amherst garnered a seed grant from the NSF of $1.5M to begin a fuel cell research program, with $10's of millions more in a couple years if they do it right. They'll be trying to figure why fuel cell electrolytes work. I say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But then again, I wouldn't turn down the money.
FuelCell Energy, while still waiting on orders for its CT Project 100 68 MW worth of installations and the still holding Freedom Tower potential, has had its partnership with German Gas Giant Linde bear its first fruit. Linde secured 4 orders for California wastewater treatment totaling 3.9 megawatts. the units are the new technology (20% more power) DFCs, 3/1.2 MW and 1/300 kW. Linde has a bunch (100's) of ww plants as customers, primarily in Germany, but otherwise scattered around the world. CA offers the biggest subsidy, but this bodes well for the future.
Hydrogenics, following fellow canuck Ballard's lead by leaning down its non-FC power business, recently laying off a bunch test equipment employees, has received a follow-on order for 3 of its German midi-buses. The buses will be used in a high-profile Water and Clean development conference in Spain next summer. It's still a shame that FCs remain so low-profile in the US.
In Japan, Matsushita(Panasonic) and Toshiba FC both announced plans for gearing up to mass-produce their mCHP systems to the order of 10,000/year by 2010/2011. Ebara made a similar non-specific announcement with their own Ballard-licensed production, and Nippon Oil clearly has plans (and the resources) to do the same with its recently purchased Sanyo technology and production facilities. They are all assuming they will be able to bring down the reformer cost by then, whether they move to HT PEM or find another solution. Or else they'll have a lot of residential fuel cell systems for sale cheap to anyone with a bunch of hydrogen.
And lastly, on my home front, UMass Amherst garnered a seed grant from the NSF of $1.5M to begin a fuel cell research program, with $10's of millions more in a couple years if they do it right. They'll be trying to figure why fuel cell electrolytes work. I say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But then again, I wouldn't turn down the money.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
One Regime Change Down, One To Go
I've been deeply involved in high-temp PEM for the last week, but outside of another sale (and another press release) by FuelCell Energy of three of the apparently old technology DFC 300 units (described as 250 kW rather than the newer 300 kW - maybe FCE is concentrating the newer stacks into the 1.2 MW configuration and shipping what they have to fuel cell friendly Korea).
But the real big news came overnight from Australia, and it's not the CE certification that CFCL's NextGen mCHP system has received to facilitate EU marketing, should it finally come up with a deliverable system. We finally achieved the much-needed regime change at one of the only two major nations not to sign on to Kyoto: three cheers for Australia voting to oust anti-Kyoto John Howard form office.
The new prime minister will be pro-environment labor party leader Kevin Rudd. He has stated that his first order of business will be to ratify Kyoto.
So maybe now, CFCL will return to its homeland and start making plans for commercialization there in addition to Kyoto-friendly Europe.
Which country will be next?
Back to that left-over turkey (not one of the new influx of wild turkeys sporadically roaming the suburbs as well as the backwoods of New Englan) and cranberry sauce (homemade from local cape Cod cranberries) sandwich.
Later.
But the real big news came overnight from Australia, and it's not the CE certification that CFCL's NextGen mCHP system has received to facilitate EU marketing, should it finally come up with a deliverable system. We finally achieved the much-needed regime change at one of the only two major nations not to sign on to Kyoto: three cheers for Australia voting to oust anti-Kyoto John Howard form office.
The new prime minister will be pro-environment labor party leader Kevin Rudd. He has stated that his first order of business will be to ratify Kyoto.
So maybe now, CFCL will return to its homeland and start making plans for commercialization there in addition to Kyoto-friendly Europe.
Which country will be next?
Back to that left-over turkey (not one of the new influx of wild turkeys sporadically roaming the suburbs as well as the backwoods of New Englan) and cranberry sauce (homemade from local cape Cod cranberries) sandwich.
Later.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Nippon Oil Treads where US Oil/Gas Fears To Go
Nippon Oil Company (NOC), Japan's largest refiner and leading supplier of home-heating fuel, has helped bail out financially troubled Sanyo Electric by purchasing its stationary fuel cell business. In a deal faintly reminiscent of last week's Daimler-Ford-Ballard agreement, NOC will form a new company of which it will have an 80% share with Sanyo owning the remainder. NOC has been the most successful participant in the Japanese government's Large-Scale Demonstration Project which has placed around 2000 1 kW co-generation systems in Japanese homes over the last three years.
NOC has developed 2 separate reformers, one producing hydrogen from kerosene that has been packaged with the Ballard-designed Ebara-Ballard stack, and an LPG reformer that has been packaged with the smaller (700w) Sanyo stacks. NOC earlier this year took over primary competitor Cosmo Oil's position in the program, essentially doubling and redoubling its bet on its reformer technology and residential fuel cell co-generation systems in general. Japan sports about 1.2 million new homes per year which are primary prospects for the new technology.
Ballard counts on the Ebara and its Japan co-gen business for future growth - Ballard has not officially reponded to the development as yet. My reasonable take is that all players who can produce a reliable stack (Ballard is now testing for 40,000 hours lifetime, a 2010 goal of the program) will do well if any do, and there is no reason for NOC not to stick with both stacks for the long run. We will probably have to wait until the allocations for the extension year of the program, FY2008, happen in March or April of nex year, and are negotiated by the system marketers and the goverment (NEDO through METI through NEF - don't worry about it).
The FC cogen systems provide base load electricity and much of the domestic hot water and heating needs, cutting GHG emissions (as compared to central-produced power by natural gas) by up to 40%, save users $600/year, and cut all other pollutants to practically zero. The cost has been the major stumbling block, but it appears that Nippon Oil is intent on turning some of its oil profits into distributed fuel cell power production, expecting big returns in the future.
NOC has developed 2 separate reformers, one producing hydrogen from kerosene that has been packaged with the Ballard-designed Ebara-Ballard stack, and an LPG reformer that has been packaged with the smaller (700w) Sanyo stacks. NOC earlier this year took over primary competitor Cosmo Oil's position in the program, essentially doubling and redoubling its bet on its reformer technology and residential fuel cell co-generation systems in general. Japan sports about 1.2 million new homes per year which are primary prospects for the new technology.
Ballard counts on the Ebara and its Japan co-gen business for future growth - Ballard has not officially reponded to the development as yet. My reasonable take is that all players who can produce a reliable stack (Ballard is now testing for 40,000 hours lifetime, a 2010 goal of the program) will do well if any do, and there is no reason for NOC not to stick with both stacks for the long run. We will probably have to wait until the allocations for the extension year of the program, FY2008, happen in March or April of nex year, and are negotiated by the system marketers and the goverment (NEDO through METI through NEF - don't worry about it).
The FC cogen systems provide base load electricity and much of the domestic hot water and heating needs, cutting GHG emissions (as compared to central-produced power by natural gas) by up to 40%, save users $600/year, and cut all other pollutants to practically zero. The cost has been the major stumbling block, but it appears that Nippon Oil is intent on turning some of its oil profits into distributed fuel cell power production, expecting big returns in the future.
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