[Graeme]

We have a thread on Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCV) but we don't have one on FC power. Now we do. Although this first post is about the UK, I'd like to include the rest of the world in this thread.

UK energy prices could fall by 21% using fuel cells

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') new report funded by the fuel cell industry claims that over five million fuel cell smart power units could be installed in the UK by 2030, driving a “revolution” in distributed energy.

Specialist sustainable energy consultancy Ecuity was hired by six fuel cell companies to research and write about the potential offered by the concept of the technology being fitted at UK residences and small businesses.

Looking at fuel cells which unlock the hydrogen from sources such as natural gas, biomethane and hydrogen itself, Ecuity believes 90% of UK households – around 22 million properties – could be suitable for fuel cell smart power units.

According to the report, main drivers for fuel cell adoption in the UK include the need to “keep the lights on” (providing uninterrupted power supply nationally), to mitigate the UK’s reliance on and exposure to natural gas imports and to reduce energy bill increases.

Ecuity claims that around 5.3 million such cells could be installed in the UK in the next 16 years, which could result in energy bills to consumers dropping by as much as 21%, although this would exclude income from any feed-in tariff (FiT) schemes. The extra 5.3 million fuel cells could represent the equivalent of 5GW of new generation capacity, the report says.

[KaiserJeep]

I happen to be a fan of fuel cells. But I do not regard them as a source of energy, rather they are an energy storage medium where energy is expended to create hydrogen, and then the hydrogen is burned in the fuel cell to make water vapor.

Fuel cell vehicles thus have effectively unlimited range, based upon refilling the vehicle's hydrogen storage tank. In the case of a residence, supplies of hydrogen can be produced from other fuels such as natural gas.

The downside to this tech is that hydrogen is difficult to store and use safely, and users suffer the risk of explosions and fire. That risk is more manageable in a residence than it is in a vehicle, and in fact the risk of a natural gas explosion is only slightly less than that of a hydrogen gas explosion - add some additional hazard due to hydrogen's colorless and odorless nature, and the practical difficulties that storing it and using it as a fuel requires.

In the recent past, these additional hydrogen fuel storage risks required someone with the knowledge and skills of an astronaut to use fuel cells safely. The on-demand nature of producing hydrogen from natural gas reduces the quantity of dangerous gas that need be stored and brings about an overall risk reduction. Certainly we could automate many of the tasks of monitoring the hydrogen store and then utilizing hydrogen fuel safely using electronic monitoring and the proper electronic sensor suite.

The risks should not be minimized. For example during the reactor malfunctions at both Three Mile Island and Fukushima, radioactive hydrogen (more precisely "heavy hydrogen", aka Tritium) accumulated inside the containment structures and exploded. The heavy ferro-concrete dome at TMI contained the explosion, while the inadequate rectangular containment structure design at Fukushima did not. (Still, compared to the radioactive cooling water leaks, the Tritium explosions from Fukushima did not release any significant amount of radioactive isotopes.)

Thus hydrogen fuel cells remain a valuable alternative tech that could stretch natural gas supplies and provide substantial power on a small or medium scale, at some level of risk. Automation can reduce the risk - whether or not the risk reduction can be had at an affordable price is an excellent question. The $300,000 hydrogen fuel cell public transportation buses are not yet practical, perhaps in a stationary application such as a residence, enough cost savings can be realized to make the risks acceptable.

[Ulenspiegel]

You use the waste heat of fuel cells for space heating, the elctricity is consumed in house or sold. The FCs are fulled with methane of course, no need to work with hydrogen in a stationary application. This approach, which currently is being field tested in Germany, only improves the overall efficiency of the electricity generation, not more.

The principal advantage is a potentially better electric yield compared to micro cogeneration units.

[JuanP]

I am with KaiserJeep on this one. Fuel cells store energy and are not an energy source, but energy storage is an important field in which there is still room for significant efficiency improvement. We should invest in fuel cell R and D, and other energy storage options.
I don't see this technology ever going mainstream, it will always be for a lucky few. I don't believe increasing complexities will last much longer, we are headed towards more basic lives. No Jetsons for us.

[Graeme]

Terrific contributions to begin with. I'd like to point out recent developments in the US especially GE.

General Electric shows off its new fuel cell pilot plant (Slideshow)

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')ark Little, head General Electric's global research complex in Niskayuna, New York, says the GE Fuel Cells startup positions the company to commercialize an alternative energy source that can be used to power industrial data centers, residential communities and developing countries.

One month after announcing the GE Fuel Cells startup, Little joined engineers, GE executives and politicians to give a look inside the company's new pilot plant in Malta, New York. Click the photo on this page for a look at GE's new pilot facility.

"We're on the forefront of another revolution in power generation," Little said. "GE has taken the next critical step in bringing energy solution to commercialization."

At the event, GE also announced its partnership with Hudson Valley Community College. Hudson Valley, a community college in Troy, New York, will work with GE to develop a hands-on fuel cell technology curriculum. GE will install a 50-kilowatt fuel cell power generation system at Hudson Valley's Tec-SMART campus in Malta.

Fuel cell research grew out of the GE Global Research lab in Niskayuna. The fuel cell startup has hired 22 mechanical, manufacturing and electrical engineer employees. Some of the scientists who helped develop the technology are now working to commercialize it.

The fuel cells eventually will be able to produce 1 to 10 megawatts of power. One megawatt can power 1,000 homes.

[GHung]

Bloom Energy keeps chugging along in the US with its 'Energy Servers".

http://www.bloomenergy.com/customer-fuel-cell/

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'B')loom Energy was founded in 2001 with a mission to make clean, reliable energy affordable for everyone in the world. Bloom Energy Servers are currently producing power for many Fortune 500 companies including Apple, Google, NSA, Walmart, AT&T, eBay, Staples, as well as notable non-profit organizations such as Caltech and Kaiser Permanente. Bloom Energy has more than 130 MW of Bloom Energy Servers installed in the United States. Last year, the company opened a large manufacturing center in Newark, Delaware and completed a number of mission critical projects, including a 6 MW deployment at an eBay data center in Utah. The company is headquartered in the United States at Sunnyvale, California

[Graeme]

This Navigant stationary fuel cell research report lists the names of the key global players including Bloom.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he stationary fuel cell industry continues to be the poster child of the entire global fuel cell sector. Focus on grid stability is increasing and the costs associated with natural disasters are rising. As a result, the use of fuel cells as small distributed power plants for grid stabilization or backup is moving forward faster than any other sector in terms of megawatts.

The principal drivers for adoption continue to be focused on the shifting economics of adoption and the increased need for more reliable power, as well as increased financing options. Since different countries are facing different pain points, in terms of power and power availability, the adoption costs of distributed generation (DG) technologies, including fuel cells, are also different. The core application segments of prime power, large combined heat and power (CHP), residential CHP (resCHP), and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) continue to grow, albeit at different paces. In addition, the stationary fuel cell industry is still led by a small number of companies, as just 20 key system players accounted for over 95% of revenue at the end of 2013. Navigant Research forecasts that global stationary fuel cell revenue will grow from $1.4 billion in 2013 to $40.0 billion in 2022.

[Graeme]

Are You Missing the Fuel Cell Revolution?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')n February, Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG ) announced a giant order from Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT ) . However, this big headline could actually be obscuring other positive developments that are taking place in the industry.

The big order

In the second quarter, Plug Power announced that it had shipped 687 units, more than twice the 246 units sent out in the year-ago period. Wal-Mart was a big part of that, since Plug Power launched the first of six fuel cell projects at Wal-Mart's Pottsville distribution center in the quarter.

That was the first full deployment of Plug Power's GenKey offering. With over 100,000 hours of run time at that site, the company has clearly proven its technology works. And the proof is in the pudding: Wal-Mart added another distribution facility to its order during the second quarter.

What's not in the headlines
For Plug Power, the success at Wal-Mart is the real headline grabber. It's what everyone is watching because the order is so big. That one order increased Plug Power's backlog by over 1,700 units; the backlog started the year at about 1,450 units.

At the end of the first quarter, however, the backlog was 3,719 units. Simple math tells you that another 500 orders came in above and beyond the big Wal-Mart order. And in the second quarter, Plug Power was quick to point out that it delivered units to Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG ) and Central Grocers. In fact, Plug Power also has hydrogen-powered units in place at food distributor Sysco (NYSE: SYY ) , grocery chain Kroger, and hardware giant Lowe's (NYSE: LOW ) , among others.

[Graeme]

Does investing in fuel cells stack up?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hen you picture the future of power generation, what springs to mind? Does it have a renewable but unreliable energy source, such as solar, wind or hydro? Perhaps it’s powered by cheap, bountiful supplies of UK shale gas, if David Cameron and George Osborne are to be believed. Nuclear isn’t looking as attractive an option after the 2011 disaster at Fukishima. Nor is coal likely the answer: despite being cheap and abundant, it is usually dismissed as too dirty.

So how about fuel cells? They’re very efficient, operate with very little noise, produce just heat and water as by-products at the point of use, and the technology behind them can be scaled to power your mobile phone, your boiler, your car or a major power plant.

Back to the future

Investors in the US seem keen. Shares in stalwart North American fuel cell companies are soaring on the back of recent engineering and commercial breakthroughs. Nasdaq-listed Plug Power (PLUG) has seen its share price rise nine-fold over the past 12 months; the company now has a market capitalisation approaching $1bn. Why? Because after years of expensive development, Plug is finally ramping up production and sales of its environmentally friendly, fuel-cell-powered system for warehouse forklifts. Early deals with Walmart, Coca-Cola, BMW and others have led to frenzied speculation of a cross-country roll-out.

Shares in Canada’s Ballard Power (TSX: BLD), meanwhile, have climbed nearly 600 per cent since the start of 2013. This year the company is poised to post the first profit in its 21-year history as a public company. It sells the fuel cell stacks to Plug Power for the forklift system. It also sells fuel cell systems for buses and telecommunications towers, having previously failed to break into the car market.

[Graeme]

World Fuel Cells Market

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')orld commercial spending to more than double by 2017

World fuel cell spending -- including research and development funding, investment in fuel cell enterprises, as well as revenue derived from commercial sales -- is projected to advance nearly 10 percent per year to $11 billion in 2017 and then almost double through 2022. Commercial demand for fuel cell products and services (including revenues associated with prototyping, demonstration, and test marketing activities, as well as actual product sales) will more than double to $4 billion in 2017 and then nearly triple through 2022. The share of total fuel cell expenditures accounted for by commercial demand will climb from one-fifth in 2012 to more than half of all
spending in 2022.

Portable fuel cells to be fastest growing in unit terms

Commercial sales of fuel cell systems are projected to expand from what are currently extremely modest levels to more than three million units in 2022. Demand gains are expected to be strong in most major markets, although explosive growth in sales of portable fuel cell systems will result in their accounting for four-fifths of all unit demand in 2022. Suppliers of portable electronic fuel cell systems will benefit from the advantages that these products offer over battery systems, particularly their ability to generate power over a longer period of time than comparably sized batteries.
Declining costs will make fuel cells an affordable alternative source of portable power in a growing number of applications. Nevertheless, portable electronics will remain a modest-sized fuel cell market in value terms, accounting for only three percent of the 2022 dollar total, because demand will be dominated by high volume, low price products.

Motor vehicles to be second largest fuel cell market

Fuel cells used in motor vehicle applications will account for the next largest share of systems sold in 2022, over 10 percent of the total. These will include not only fuel cell-powered automobiles and buses, but also fuel cell range extenders that are being developed for use in electric vehicles. More significantly, fuel cell systems used in motor vehicle applications will account for just under half of total commercial revenue in 2022. In early 2014, Hyundai began leasing fuel cell vehicles to commercial customers, and a number of additional vehicle models are expected to become available from other major automakers by 2017.

Dollar demand is projected to rise from current extremely low levels -- which at present consist mostly of revenues associated with prototyping, demonstration, and test marketing activities -- to much larger but still very modest levels in 2022 relative to overall motor vehicle sales.

[Graeme]

Is That An Upp Portable Fuel Cell In Your Pocket, Or Are You Just Glad To See Me?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ith that in mind, let’s take a look at the Upp portable fuel cell from Intelligent Energy.

Whenever we get a new gadget in the mail, the first thing we look for is a streamlined, intuitive setup right out of the box along with ease of use, and the Upp hits those marks perfectly.

Upp consists of a charger and a snap-in cartridge. You can figure out how they go together just by looking at the picture on the box.

Plug in your USB device and you’re good to go.

We got a quick charge for our iPhone, which was almost depleted, and that was that.

The fun thing is, if you have other USB devices around the house you can do some experimenting. The Upp website notes other USB devices that the company has confirmed work with Upp aside from phones. We didn’t see our nifty little portable solar USB charger from a previous review on the list, but we gave it a try anyways, since this particular solar charger has a built in battery that can be recharged from a wall socket when the sun is not available. That worked out just fine, too.

What else? Oh, right. Portability. Assembled, Upp weighs about a pound or so. It is about as long as a toothbrush case and wide as a nice, fat, banana, so in terms of portability it is small and light enough to slip into your cargo pants, or your bag or backpack or whatever.

[Graeme]

Whats Happening with Fuel Cells?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')uel cells are not a new technology having first been invented in 1838. Widespread adoption has not yet come to fruition, as today fuel cells are mainly used for primary and backup power for commercial, industrial and residential buildings and to power fuel-cell vehicles.

Applications for Fuel Cells

Fuel Cell Today breaks down fuel cells into 3 primary applications; portable, stationary, and transportation. The following is a breakdown of shipments for each application over the past 5 years:

[Graeme]

Fuel Cell Follies: Off-Roading

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')onsumer adoption of hydrogen-fueled vehicles could have quite a catalytic impact on the entire fuel cell industry. Two of the public fuel cell technology companies come to mind first: Plug Power, Inc. (PLUG: Nasdaq), FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCEL: Nasdaq) and Ballard Power Systems, Inc. (BLDP: Nasdaq). These companies have been toiling away for years on fuel cell technologies, finding success on the periphery with industrial, campus and power generation solutions. All three companies trade at modest prices and could look like great bargains for investors with an extended investment horizon.


Summary

Three companies with recent positive fundamental developments that indicate market acceptance of their technologies and products. Skies above these fuel cell producers are getting blue as recent developments in the automotive industry suggest a growing interest in fuel cell technologies for consumer on-road vehicle as well as commercial off-road vehicles and stationary solutions. Three undervalued stocks with weakening trading patterns that suggest things could get worse before they get better. For me that adds up to three stocks that should be on a watch list until the equity market finds its bottom.

[Graeme]

Hydrogen Fuel Cells: The Next Big Midstream MLP Opportunity

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')ydrogen players like Plug Power Inc (NASDAQ: PLUG ) will happily regale you with examples of how hydrogen fuel cells have saved money while providing a clean, environmentally-friendly fuel to vehicles. And every one of those stories will be true. However, Plug Power focuses on the industrial space. Hydrogen hasn't been able to push into the consumer market... yet.

Toyota Motor Corp (NYSE: TM ) is looking to change that. And if hydrogen starts to catch on, it could open up a whole new market for midstream master limited partnerships, or MLPs.

What's hydrogen?
From science class, we all know that hydrogen is an element. But it's also a key fuel source for a hydrogen fuel cell. The science is complicated; but effectively, these little wonders combine hydrogen with oxygen to create electricity through a chemical reaction. The main byproduct is water (two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen, or H20).

The idea is fabulous, but making it work cheaply enough and on a large enough scale is more problematic. So, too, is the lack of infrastructure to support mass adoption of fuel cells.

That's why Plug Power chose to take on the industrial market first. For example, it's been working with companies like Wal-Mart Stores. Plug Power provides hydrogen technology to power the forklifts that move stuff around Wal-Mart's facilities. Clean, reliable, and easy to refuel, Wal-Mart has been impressed enough to extend their original deal with Plug Power to include more sites. But these are controlled locations with fairly predictable usage patterns and hydrogen needs.

[Graeme]

Now fuel cell technology is proving its worth

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hen Australian Adam Bond (below) took over the reins at alkaline fuel cell energy developer AFC Energy, he raised a few eyebrows by setting an aggressive target for the company of 1GW (1,000MW) of fuel cell capacity in its order pipeline by 2020. Achievement of the above would make AFC Energy the world’s largest fuel cell company.

As opposed to mobile or hydrogen-powered vehicles, stationary fuel cells have applications as primary and secondary power supply at industrial sites, as well as the home. AFC partners with hydrogen suppliers and uses their surplus hydrogen source to generate electricity and trade the power into the power grid, while retaining ownership of the fuel cell system itself (known as the Energy Supply Company model, “ESCO”).

Bond says: “Having established what was considered to be a highly aggressive target of 1GW of fuel cell generation capacity under development by the end of 2020, I am now increasingly confident that this expectation will be met, and may potentially be exceeded over this timeframe.”

In April, AFC signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence, providing a framework for the assessment and potential deployment of an estimated 300MW of fuel cell generation capacity in Dubai over the next five years. This MOU represents the largest single fuel cell deployment programme in the world. This followed smaller but no less significant deals in South Korea and Thailand.