Interestingly there is already a big difference over previous years in the types of questions that are being asked. This year the questions are a lot more direct, regarding dates for commercialisation and costs. These When and How Much issues are something that some of the companies no longer seem to be avoiding and are a lot happier to address, with companies such as Hexion and MTU CFC being open about costs.
Ceramic Fuel Cells with its newly opened office in Chester, UK, is one such company that is happy to talk about timelines. Its fuel cells are on display in glass cases and to be honest at first glance they look like coloured paper dollies. These though are in fact fuel cell plates that can be put together, sandwich style, to form a high efficient (currently 35 per cent but the aim is 40-45 per cent once parasitic losses have been addressed) SOFC stack. The difference between these stacks and many others is the capability to internally reform natural gas. The current 1kW demonstration stacks are presently being used in a programme in New Zealand with the aim of developing other programmes in different countries. At present Ceramic is offering a complete product but the overall aim, which they think is not too far in the future will be to provide the boiler industry with the stacks which they then integrate and provide to the consumer.
Intelligent Energys ENV bike has been the subject of many, many headlines recently and today I was lucky enough to talk to one of the designers that was intimately involved with the project. The bike, currently back in the UK after a trip to Monaco, is innovative in a number of aspects, not least in terms of its powerpack the CORE module. Intelligent suggested that one of its short term aims is to develop a production method for hydrogen on demand. This, alongside further development of the technology, is on the slate for Intelligent, alongside dealing with all the e-mails on the ENV bike!
As would be expected from an exhibition of this size, and reputation, the geographical diversity is high, with the number of different countries being represented growing annually. This year two booths here are showcasing Chinese talent, with the government agency responsible for the R&D funding, MOST, taking up another. During an interview with Mr Shi Dinghuan, the President of the China Society for Solar Energy, he made the comment that 90 per cent of all fuel cell and hydrogen R&D in China is sponsored by the government. He was also able to provide an update on the beleaguered UNEP project with contracts being signed with DaimlerChrysler for 3 fuel cell buses to be delivered to Shanghai by the end of this year.
Hexion, a producer of hydrogen reformer technology in the Netherlands, are one of the companies open to discuss actual costs today. Its 5m3/hr HGS-V system is now on the market for 120,000 euros (about 0.15 euro cents per cubic metre of hydrogen). This system, with a footprint of 3.2 by 0.8 by 2 metres, is targeted for use in a mini-grid system. The energy can not only be used for transportation applications but also to supply hydrogen to around 5 houses with 1kW fuel cell systems. Hexion are planning a "big brother" for the HGS-V, producing 50 cubic metres of hydrogen per hour and it is expected that this unit will cost around 300,000 euros. The Hexion stand was also promoting a future city "Hot Spot", Arnhem in the Netherlands whose Mayor has announced that it wants to be the first fuel cell city in the Netherlands and one of the main centres of use in Europe. More information on Arnhems plans can be found by contacting H2@arnhem.nl.
One of the highest profile product releases at the Fair is the "Galileo" unit from Sulzer. This unit which takes over from the HXS 1000 Premier is one step closer to commercialisation for the company that is looking for true series production in two to five years time. The Galileo unit incorporates a number of innovations, with the key step forward being the development and incorporation of a single-plate design. By employing this plate, which looks like a ridged CD, in a series stack, the unit size can be decreased and the cost effectiveness increased. Sulzer expects around 100 of these units to be produced and distributed, mainly in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, in the Autumn this year.
Throughout the day the Forum has held mini-interviews with key industry players. These have included MTU CFC, which announced small series production of its HotModule in the next couple of months.
Tomorrow, alongside the main exhibition and forum is the International Conference "Hydrogen and Fuel Cells on the Way to Commercialisation", and if today is any indication it will not only be well attended but also packed full of more announcements highlighting that finally this market seems to be on the move!
Hannover Fair Day 2
Overnight with a cold beer and a chance to think, one thing that I realised that had not been apparent during the day, to me at least, was the lack of fuel cell cars at the show. Bikes and forklifts were on display, both areas that are gaining increasing publicity as early markets for fuel cells, but the big hitters, such as Ford, GM and Honda with their representative products are missing. In fact PEM technologies in general are underrepresented, with SOFC being the dominant technology on display. Alongside SOFC manufacturers, notably most of which are at least talking about medium to large order books now, there was an increase in fuel cell system testing companies, a necessary group if fuel cells are to reach the mass market.
Day two of the fair has seen an increase in footfall at the stands, as well as the international conference "Hydrogen and Fuel Cells on their way to commercialisation". This conference highlighted examples of what government support can achieve and examples of early markets. Before the first speaker Arno A. Evers, the driving force behind Fair-PR, announced the launch of the Hydrogen Ambassadors competition. Small teams have the chance to enter their new or innovative ideas for the implementation of fuel cells and hydrogen, with the prize for the winning team being a free booth at next years Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Stand at the Hannover Fair.
This conference again highlighted the power of the Asian market with presentations from Korea, Japan and China, each very different but all three coming back to what can be achieved with strong focused central government support.
Korea's Samsung SDI with its vision of being a "total mobile energy provider" brought to the debate an area that is often not discussed fuel cells are not in a one horse race for mobile power. Although battery development has stagnated over the last decade, research is being undertaken into increasing power density and super capacitors also represent an interesting future option. As well as other potential technological solutions to the issue of battery life, airlines and trains are now providing power points for laptops and mobiles, helping to address issues of longevity of the power packs.
In the development of fuel cell and hydrogen technology China is catching up fast and the presentation from a representative of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) outlined why and when they plan to develop a hydrogen economy. Similarly to Japan it is a three step process:
- Until 2020: technology development phase
- By 2050: market penetration phase
- Beyond 2050 fully developed market and infrastructure phase
With 40 per cent of the total energy research budget over the last five years being used in electric vehicles, hydrogen and fuel cell research, the resulting development is showing impressive returns on investment.
Japan is well known for its strong support, both in terms of R&D costs and target setting, in this area and now, from the presentation from Technova, this support extends into subsidies for stationary applications. Taking information directly from the slides shown in terms of subsidies for 1kW stationary units:
- 2005: 6 million yen / unit for a maximum of 400 units, (cost target = 810 mill. yen)
- 2006: 3 million yen / unit for a maximum of 1,000 units
- 2007: 2 million yen / unit for a maximum of 5,000 units (cost target = < 1 mill. yen)
With the strength of support that is being shown by these three governments, development will happen and probably at a far faster pace than in areas, such as Europe, where support is much more diffuse.
Utsira and Iceland are two communities that are developing their own hydrogen economies. Both are rightly proud of their achievements and listening to the presentations on the projects you get a sense of what the future might hold for more mainland communities if they also get the opportunity to break the more traditional energy mould. Following on from my comment yesterday regarding a new found openness with costs and prices Knut Harg, Senior VP of Hydro, revealed that the cost of the Utsira project was in the region of 5 million euros significantly less than some had thought. This cost included everything in the project, as well as shipping and installation.
Dr Hugo Vandenborre waved the Canadian flag talking about the demonstration projects that will be happening in the near future in Canada. The Hydrogen Village, Hydrogen Highway (the Canadian version), and the Vancouver Fuel Cell Vehicle Programme are all designed to showcase the seriousness with which Canadians taking hydrogen and fuel cells. It would be interesting to know if there are plans at any point to link the Canadian Hydrogen Highway and its neighbouring Californian Hydrogen Highway.
FuelCell Energy wrapped up the conference with a company based presentation of its commercialisation plans, which Fuel Cell Today has reported on previously.
The attention is now shifting to tonight when their will be a more relaxed session where the conference attendees will join their colleagues at an evening reception hopefully creating a more active debate than that seen during the official part of the conference!
Hannover Fair Day 3
After last nights annual, and now legendry, networking event the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Stand started the third day a bit subdued! Lots of coffee was a very popular option alongside the talking.
I kicked off the day by going to see Fideras, which alongside its plug and play test bench SOFC kit, have on display the most artistic picture of a stack that I have ever seen! The picture was taken by the SOFC stack manufacturer HTceramix who are co-producers of the product. Fideras is here to show its equipment, which they are targeting at universities and companys who want to undertake SOFC research. The entire unit, including a stack and the testing equipment is being marketed for 29,500 euros, with a one year warranty, and has a footprint of less that one cubic metre.
Webasto is a company with a long tradition in the power sector but is fairly new to the fuel cell arena. Due to an aggressive to market policy this company aims to an SOFC APU unit in the market by 2008, aimed specifically at providing power for cabin technologies in articulated trucks. The unit is designed to provide 1-2 kW electric power or 2.5 kW cooling with a current 17% efficiency. By 2008 it aims to have the efficiency up to 25%. In terms of emissions performance the product is already at 5% of the Euro V levels of emissions. The Euro V is seen as very stringent and will be difficult for trucking companies to reach. In terms of cost Webasto is aiming at SECA cost targets.
Following on from the Hydro presentation yesterday today I had the opportunity to discuss the project further with one of the managers heavily involved in the project. This certainly is one of the most innovative projects currently under way, though if the Scottish Western Isles have anything to go by a new very exciting project might on the horizon.
The other FCT, Fuel Cell Technologies of Canada, have one of its 5kW units on show at the Fair. The unit, which employs Siemens technology, has already attracted a number of customers, with an expected 20-30 more units to be shipped this year. Unlike a number of other big name companies Fuel Cell Technologies already have a large scale manufacturing capability, up to 5000 units per year, for its low maintenance product.
MTU CFCs Hotmodule has certainly made an impact in Germany and with the announcement at the start of the week of a ramp up in production, to be completed by the end of 2007, we could soon be seeing a significant number more of these units in the market. Costs are expected to be around 1250 euro per installed kilowatt, with a stack replacement after 5 years. The stack currently represents around 30% of total costs.
There are a number of new companies exhibiting here this year, amongst them are the German / British firm Hipas which is starting to manufacture braking resistors, for use in the fuel cell vehicle industry. The coolant based units take the excess energy from the engine, turning it into heat energy that can then either be dissipated into the atmosphere or used to provide heat for the cabin etc. Hipas expect products from the 3rd Quarter of this year to be going into customer hands many of which are very well known names in the fuel cell industry.
Last but by know means least for today Nuvera have a number of its on the market products on display, happy to discuss with everybody who goes over to its stand what they are doing and why. The Nuvera stand is in the prime location in the hall as it is located by the cafeteria, ensuring a constant flow of interest. Battery replacement is a phrase often spoken during the exhibit, with Nuvera going one step further and teaming up with an American battery group, which is repackaging the Nuvera fuel cell for drop-in applications are battery pack replacements, such as those in forklifts.
As today is my last day at the Fair, David Jollie taking over for the last two days of the Fair, I would like to finish todays piece with some thoughts about the last few days. The main thing that constantly impresses me about this industry is the friendliness of the people involved. Company representatives, from the CEO down, are happy to take time to show you their products and talk about where they see early market, even when it is obvious, as in my case, that you were not there to help fill their order books. In general the exhibit has, so far, been very upbeat with a genuine feeling that the early markets are close by, something that has been missing up until now. There has been a constant stream of visitors to the exhibit with many coming, looking for and getting the information on the market that helps to create a level of confidence that has been missing in previous years. Finally I would like to say thank you to the Fair-PR team for welcoming me into the team and providing all the backup and support needed.
Day four in Hannover
After the Fuel Cell Today team change, I (David Jollie that is) decided to spend some time sitting in the forum which runs alongside the exhibit. Here the exhibiting companies (and a few others) get twenty minutes to explain to the passing visitors all about their organisation.
First up on Thursday was Carmen Rangel, Head of Electrochemistry of Materials Unit of INETI. This organisation is supported by two Portuguese ministries to research into various areas, including fuel cells. Three years ago it exhibited a 140Watt prototype stack using its own catalyst but it seems that the number of areas of interest has increased since then with work on basic materials being carried out and sodium borohydride fuels also of interest. However, what seems to be the most important activity (at least in INETIs view) is its work on developing codes and standards.
Vahe Odabashian of Armenias only fuel cell company, H2 ECOnomy spoke on his companys activities. It is mainly involved in research and development of PEM cells and components. Current projects see it working with American and Russian partners on a US DoE-funded question, looking at improving components, particularly on bipolar plates and stack assembly. H2 ECOnomy is also installing a 1kW unit at a local university, to work in conjunction with electrolysis and be grid-independent. The electrolyser and stack are already built but the rest of the system has yet to be built. However, as well as working on R&D, it does have some commercial ambitions, having developed and sold fuel cell stacks up to 100W (one of which was on show). A typical customer is a university or school. There are also slightly larger stacks, up to 500 Watts in power, for sale if anyone is interested. MEAs, stack assembly, bipolar plates, engineering and control and power electronics are all under examination, showing no lack of ambition.
Between these two presentations, the DWV (German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association) gave an update on the position of the German fuel cell industry. Much of the commercial activity is already well-known but what was less well-known to me at least, was how similar the activities are in Germany to elsewhere (particularly Britain) in trying to garner government support. The current step is trying to assemble a roadmap which can push everyone forwards in the right direction.
Following Armenias only fuel cell company, we were treated to an interview with (as far as I am aware) Hawaiis only fuel cell company (which should get some good visibility at the 2006 US Fuel Cell Seminar!). Scott Paul, Vice President of Business Development, even explained why it is based in Honolulu. Put simply, it is still in the USA, with access to US funding but positioned closer geographically to potential customers, which they expect to be in Asia. Hokus focus is on non-fluorinated membranes and integrating these into membrane electrode assemblies. Cost and ease of processing are apparently the main benefits. Talking turkey, they believe that they can reduce membrane cost by 90 per cent from where it is with current technology and that their MEAs can be 50 per cent cheaper than what can be seen today, even at todays volumes. Durability is not all it might be but is already at several thousand hours and Hoku recently broke ground on a 2 acre site for its new factory, which should be operational this year.
Of course, not all of the fuel cell activity at the fair is in the Hydrogen and fuel cell exhibit (although most is). I took the opportunity to wander off to Hall 15 which was mostly focusing on nanotechnology. Nanofibres are one area of relevance to fuel cells: often in terms of electrodes. However, to put the fuel cell industry in its place, it became clear that fuel cells are not the main focus of any of these companies. However, potential growth areas like this are always of interest to industrial companies and I noticed the stand of Ametek which promoted its fuel cell work well. Test equipment and motors seemed to be the specialty here but I was slightly surprised to see the range of Ameteks fuel cell work. Its powder metallurgy experience allows it to provide materials for solid oxide fuel cell interconnects; it works in gas analysis and in fuel cell testing and also provides blowers and pumps to the market, some of the less-fashionable components that are nonetheless vital.
Test equipment seemed to have a high profile throughout the event. Companies like Magnum were present with their testing equipment and I also spoke with Arbin Instruments, which provides testing equipment. In Arbins case, it has experience of providing testing solutions for the battery and capacitor industries and has moved the relatively short distance to providing the same type of equipment for fuel cells. A lot of the hardware is the same (such as the test loads) but obviously gas flows have to be managed and the customers needs vary greatly in terms of power of the cells to be tested, testing conditions etc. Although the Arbin products are at least built around a central design, it seems that the ability to adapt this for individual consumers is one of the key selling points.
Back at the forum, in the afternoon, Arcontronics showed off its AirGen-lookalike Electrum system and talked about the fuel cell vehicle that it has built. The 15kW PEM cell charges a battery and also provides some primary battery power under some circumstances. Reforming of hydrocarbons to hydrogen is another area of interest, a focus simply because of the high cost of hydrogen and of the challenges of buying it today.
Come back to read more about the exhibitors tomorrow!
Hannover: day 5
At the start of the fifth day, you can see the strain on the faces (and the feet) of many of the exhibitors. The smiles are still there but you get the feeling that people are looking forward to the weekend, even though the Messe continues for another day after this.
However, there is plenty of activity here still to report on. First of all, simply flicking through the Messe Daily newspaper shows up two fuel cell and hydrogen related stories. IMMs (Institut fuer Mikrotechnik Mainz) mobile/portable reformer made the news. Designed to reform methanol, using selective oxidation, the apparatus is perhaps the size of a matchbox, a fairly impressive piece of engineering.
The second story came from Hall 11. In Hall13, you can see several systems designed to provide back-up or emergency power from the likes of Idatech or in the marketing materials of Hydrogenics. However, Rittal GmbH also has a system for sale elsewhere at the fair. This is designed for outdoor use and the big selling point is the housing of the unit, protecting it from the weather, and potentially opening another market. In fact, the system looks perhaps not attractive but chunky and well-protected. Idatech supplies the 5kW fuel cell inside and Rittal the housing. Although it was good to see a back-up power unit with a fuel cell amongst the other more conventional technologies, it was the only one represented there, showing that we still have some way to go.
Looking around the stands back in the Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Exhibit, I was interested to see the hy-fly (represented by Fachhochschule Wiesbaden student Christof Kunze). This metre-wide or so flying wing has previously flown (in its striking Fuel Cell Today orange colours!) powered by a battery but will hopefully have its fuel cell fitted and will fly more successfully than other aeronautical efforts to date (namely the Helios). For more information, visit the Hy-Fly website .
There were also some more conventional vehicles around the exhibition (although not that conventional in many cases). Outside, Forschungszentrum Juelich did its best to prevent Germanys youth hitting each other with green foam tubes (being given out by one exhibitor at the Messe) by allowing them to ride its Ju-Move direct methanol quad bike (inside H-Tec was also entertaining its fair share of German schoolkids with its fuel cell demonstration units). Inside the hall, there was a small Pios fuel cell airship, following on from the hydrogen bike of the last few years. Nordrhein-Westfalen had two type of vehicle on its stand, in the form of a small, slightly quashed-looking bus, powered by a Hydrogenics stack and a bicycle (three actually) built in conjunction by Masterflex. Umicore, the MEA and catalyst manufacturer also had a small one person car with a really quite bizarre design on show. This was built by the Berner Fachhochschule, presumably including Umicore components in the stack. And, as well as all this, there was also a fork-lift truck form Proton Motor, Still and Linde.
Looking slightly away form our usual area, I found some of the hydrogen generation equipment on display interesting. I spoke to two companies in particular. Accagen, a Swiss company (working with German firm Zebotec) is using its expertise in hydrogen generation by electrolysis to work with hydrogen as an energy vector. Proving that there really is noting new under the sun, it uses alkaline electrolysis technology that is probably a hundred years old. Updated with some improvements to the electrodes, it means that switching on and off and cycling causes many fewer problems than might be expected meaning that this technology should be able to work well in conjunction with fuel cells. Some refuelling stations have already incorporated this product but there will be some interesting projects coming up soon, where it will be integrated with renewable energy sources and perhaps fuel cells or conventional engines. We hope to bring you more information on this as we hear more.
Second was Questair, a company I have met with before. What I hadnt done before was to see their product in all its glory. After last years Hannover Messe they received queries as to whether the pressure swing adsorbtion technology for hydrogen generation could be scaled down and this is exactly what they have done. What was most impressive for me though was one of the other changes made. Where the different adsorbent beds were previously simply plumbed in, the valve feeding them now rotates, meaning cheaper construction costs and a simpler design in the long run (you now have one connection in for the feedstock and one output for the gas). In the longer term, some creative thinking may see them rotating the beds around the valve instead. I dont know enough about the technology to really understand the benefits that might bring but it is a fascinating example of the sort of creative thinking that might be able to bring benefits to the fuel cell industry.
It is good to see new companies arriving in the fuel cell industry and one such represented at the fair was Riesaer Brennstoffzellentechnik. Recently formed, it has taken work from a number of Universities and institutes in the Berlin and Freiberg region and put them together to produce a 4kW stack, suitable for a small number of domestic households or for powering an office perhaps. It runs off natural gas, using steam reforming technology developed by the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg. The system here, although still large and expensive is an improvement on previous prototypes and looks quite pretty in an industrial-design way. Hopefully, cost will come down as will size over the longer term (although it would be unfair not to point out that other fuel cell companies face exactly the same challenges).
The show also provided the opportunity for a new fuel cell pursuit. Having read through our report, I noticed the absence of a lot of the component manufacturers present from our comments. In part this is understandable: for instance, I spoke with Tanaka the Japanese precious metal company which makes fuel cell catalysts. However, my electrochemistry is not good enough to really explain to you what they are doing this year that is better than last (suffice it to say that the catalysts are better). There is the same issue with graphite plate manufacturers and many other components. But the challenge now is this: at every fuel cell event, we will try to put together a theoretical fuel cell from the components on display. So, from Hannover 2005, we have a PEM fuel cell with Tanaka catalysts, a 3M membrane electrode assembly, Graftech carbon plates. I think the stack should be made by Nedstack, the Dutch manufacturer. Apologies to those we have missed out but there is always next year!
Finally for this report, what were the overall impressions? Well, we will take the weekend to get our thoughts in order before really answering this question. However, as my own temporary conclusion, I think the show has been worthwhile. I have seen some new fuel cell products and also seen a few that have been around a little longer but I have never previously spotted (like the Astris E8 alkaline portable generator). There were, though, perhaps fewer fuel cells and fuel cell companies than I had hoped. However, there were new names and a lot of new components (and testing equipment) on display. Hopefully that is a sign that fuel cells and hydrogen are still interesting enough to bring in the crowds!