General

Huerth is Ballard's gate to Europe

Ballard Power Systems will now use Huerth, a city near Cologne, as hub for the coordination of projects in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the whole of Europe. The Ballard representatives were welcomed on November 21 by Walther Boecker, mayor of the city of Huerth, in the technology and industry park Knapsack.

„Ballard Power Systems develops and produces fuel cells and systems for numerous applications which are used already worldwide – also here in Europe. We have already many customers in Germany and Europe, and we consider Germany as a growing key market for our technology and our products. This holds for fuel cell buses just as well as for uninterrupted power supplies or cogeneration systems“, said Geoffrey Budd, marketing head for Europe, about the expanding European market.

The technology and industry park Knapsack provides the hydrogen for the filling up of the fuel cell buses from by-products of the chemical industry. The proximity to European neighbour countries like Belgium, The Netherlands, and France is a further point in favour of the site for companies with a European horizon. Contact point and partner is the technology centre ST@RT HÜRTH.

(HyCologne press release of 21. November 2011)

f-cell expands

The continuous success of the fuel cell forum f-cell has its effects. The plan for 2012 is to enhance the meeting by means of cooperations and parallel events: the whole value chain of storage is represented in the Battery+Storage fair and congress, and the e-mobil BW technology day presents mobility solutions from and for the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. It will be held a bit later than usual, and also at a different venue, namely the state fair ground at Stuttgart. The former site had become too small.

Mobile applications

Hyundai's plans for serial production

Just like most of the other major car makers Hyundai plans to start the large scale serial production of fuel cells in 2015. The present third generation of a fuel cell drive train is working in a ix35 FCEV (Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle). Until the end of 2012 1000 units of the ix35 FCEV will be built and tested in normal use everywhere in the world. Large scale serial production will begin 2015. „We intend to make 10.000 fuel cell modules per year by then“, explains Cho Kwon Tae, Hyundai's engineer responsible for the fuel cell development. „Until 2020 we will ramp up the production to 100.000 units.“

The ix35 prototype has a fuel cell with an output of 100 kW which provides a range of about 560 km. The top speed is 160 km/h. Meanwhile the vehicle is also suitable for winter operation and can be started at temperatures down to -25 °C. In comparison to the last generation type the production costs could be cut by 80 %. Hyundai gives no figures for fuel cell car prices, but according to Cho Kwon Tae „our aim is that by 2020 the costs are on the same level as for conventional types.“

Hyundai has the idea that alternative drives can share the work: „For the city and delivery service we develop electric vehicles“, says Cho Kwon Tae, „while the fuel cell is for larger types and for longer rides“.

(Focus, 26. October 2011)

Swiss post buses running on fuel cells

PostAuto Schweiz AG is the first Swiss utility using the fuel cell in public transportation. Since the new schedule in December 2011 five fuel cell post buses operate in and around the city of Brugg (Aargau). Several partners support the long time test, for example the canton of Aargau, the federal energy authority and the European Union. It is part of the European CHIC project. The canton Aargau supports the fuel cell bus project with a total of 1.5 MSFr over five years.

Ecological sustainability is the key point for the long time test. Most of the hydrogen is produced at the filling station in Brugg. It is made by 100 % from renewable energies like hydro, sun, wind, and biomass. PostAuto expects to save at least 2000 t CO₂ during the five years of the test.

(Press release of PostAuto Schweiz AG of 9. November 2011)

BMW with new partners

There is no official confirmation yet about a partnership of BMW with General Motors on fuel cells, but already a lot of talk about it. It is heard that BMW wants to get fuel cell technology from GM and will pay a certain share of the development costs for them. Rumour has it that the negotiations are progressed rather far. After the Detroit Motor Show which starts in mid-January the partnership might be made official with a Memorandum of Understanding. There is no comment from GM. BMW confirms only that there are talks with the US car makers.

(Wirtschaftswoche, 10. December 2011)

Stationary Applications

Coalition for hydrogen from wind

Energy storage is a key point to achieve a new energy system with a strong renewable component. Hydrogen is able to store a lot of renewable wind power. This is the background for the initiative „performing energy – coalition for wind hydrogen“ comprising important parties from industry, science, and environment and other associations. They want to start first projects in order to create the foundations for a commercial integration of hydrogen storage systems into the energy business.

The representatives of 14 important industry companies, research institutions, and associations from the environment and technology support sector presented the initiative „performing energy – coalition for wind hydrogen“ in Berlin on December 7. The states Brandenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, and Hamburg support the initiative.

The plan of the partners is to investigate the technical feasibility and economical viability of large hydrogen storage systems, to test them under normal operating conditions, and to bring them to the market in the medium term. They have jointly applied for funding of three cooperating demonstration projects in Brandenburg and Schleswig-Holstein, and if granted they will be able to show the whole value chain of wind hydrogen in the fields of power, heat, and mobility.

The partners are:

• Brandenburg Technical University
• DBI Gas- und Umwelttechnik GmbH,
• Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V.
• Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR) – Institut für Technische Thermodynamik,
• ENERTRAG AG,
• Fraunhofer-Institut für Solare Energiesysteme,
• GASAG Berliner Gaswerke Aktiengesellschaft,
• hySOLUTIONS GmbH,
• Linde AG,
• NOW GmbH Nationale Organisation Wasserstoff- und Brennstoffzellentechnologie,
• Siemens AG - Sektor Industry und Sektor Energy,
• TOTAL Deutschland GmbH,
• Vattenfall Europe Innovation GmbH und
• Vattenfall Europe Windkraft GmbH.

The initial work of the coalition will be concentrated on three demonstration projects, namely:

• large scale production of hydrogen and insertion into the gas grid,
• Generation of hydrogen and reconversion to power, and
• hydrogen storage in underground salt caverns

as well as the cross sectional topic

• hydrogen as fuel.

All parts of the project are connected to using hydrogen in transport. For this reason the demonstration projects are associated with the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) in Berlin and Hamburg. In Berlin alone CEP operates about 50 electric vehicles with fuel cells. Serial production of fuel cell cars using hydrogen will start 2014. Sustainable hydrogen production on the basis of wind power is a key factor for the introduction of hydrogen mobility.

Portable Applications

Fuel cell coffee maker

Coffee in Swiss trains is made from pads on site. The customers like this. This requires electrical power, and so the minibars are equipped with a battery. But this device is about 20 kg heavy, and changing it is not so easy. The catering company Elvetino looked for an alternative and found the fuel cell. The company Cekatec from Toggenburg (Switzerland) with the University of Applies Sciences in Bern as partner developed a system with a hydrogen storage and a fuel cell with an output between 200 and 1200 W. According to Cekatek head Stefan Jud the three main advantages of the fuel cell in comparison to the conventional battery are the longer operation time, no CO₂ emissions, and almost no idling times for charging because the hydrogen cylinders (either compressed gas or hydride) are changed quickly.

Stefan Jud says that his product will be more economical than the conventional battery already after 12 to 15 months. From the minibar business he expects a great media echo, which will be helpful to find further interested parties. Jud thinks that the first minibars with a Cekatec fuel cell can be seen in Swiss trains in the spring of 2012.

(Toggenburger Tagblatt, 15. September 2011)

Infrastructure

Grand opening of new filling station in Oslo

Norway's capital has now three hydrogen filling stations. The third was opened on 22. November in the Gaustad district near the SINTEF research institute. And at the same time two more Hyundai fuel cell cars arrived as customers, bringing the total number of vehicles in the region to 17. The new feature of the filling station is that for the first time all the hydrogen is generated on site by electrolysis on the basis of emission free electricity from hydro power.

Fleet and infrastructure are supported financially by the European Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking. The vehicles will be leased to private and commercial users and be tested under normal operation conditions. This is an initiative of the Scandinavian joint project H2moves Scandinavia which has a budget ob about 20 M€ and is supported from public funds in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The objective is the accelerated market introduction of hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles by means of better acceptance by the customer.

Energy and Climate

Energetic paint

Researches from the University of Notre Dame (Indiana, USA) have developed a paint which can be applied to walls and generates power. The paint contains tiny particles of Titanium dioxide, so called quantum dots. They are coated with either Cadmium sulphide or Cadmium selenide. In a mixture of alcohol and water they form a viscous paste. On a transparent and conductive material the paint has generated power from light. The paint can easily be applied to every conductive surface.

At this time the paint converts just about 1 % of the light power into electricity, which is not much in comparison to the efficiency of 10 or 15 % for modern solar cells. But these are complicated and expensive to make. The paint could be made cheaply and in large quantities.

(M. P. Genovese et al.: ACS Nano, DOI: 10.1021/nn204381g)

Politics

Medium-sized filling station operators and the new fuels

Medium-sized filling stations look a bit worried into a future which is marked by fuels which are today still considered as alternative. „A new fuel strategy by the federal government and the EU commission must not result in a monopolistic supply structure for gas, power, and hydrogen“, warned Deinhard Dittert, chairman of the association MEW Mittelstaendische Energiewirtschaft Deutschland e.V., Berlin. He echoed the results of a recently published study of the Free University of Berlin about the diversification of transport fuels. It says that for the nearer future oil will remain the backbone of mobility in Germany. „But at the same time politics must create suitable boundary conditions to secure the role of medium-sized companies in the markets for biofuels, electric mobility, natural gas, or hydrogen before the background of increasing market shares of new energy carriers. The oligopoly of the oil companies must not be succeeded by a monopoly of the power, gas, and water suppliers“, said the MEW chairmen.

(MEW press release of 14. November 2011)

What else we have found ...

„Lazy dogs“ to work!

It is generally known to that carbon dioxide or halogen hydrocarbons do not react easily. Chemists classify these molecules as „lazy dogs“. It may be surprising that hydrogen is among them, though it burns very well. But everybody who ever take a deeper look into the inner working of a fuel cells knows that it is not easy at all to ionize it, for example.

Scientists from the University of Oldenburg have found that certain silicium compounds are able to put these molecules to work. They could show that in the presence of these silicium compounds molecular hydrogen could be activated without further external energy supply under standard pressure and temperature. „Activating molecular hydrogen is a great step in the right direction“, said working group head Mueller. The results published now could be very useful for the transition to a sustainable hydrogen economy. But they could also mean fundamental changes for many industrial processes in which hydrogen is used, frequently together with heavy metals.

Remark: Honestly - would you call hydrogen a „lazy dog“? For obvious reasons we are disgusted. But when it helps to make it even more useful than it is already we do not mind so much.