New Fuel Endeavor | Green Energy News

April 20, 2003 – Vol.8 No.4

NEW FUEL CELL ENDEAVOR.

Though FuelCell Energy’s expertise lies in carbonate fuel cells, the company has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy as a participant in its Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA), a program to accelerate the commercialization of low-cost solid oxide fuel cells over the next ten years. The cost-shared SECA project currently totals $139 million, with $24 million expected to be spent this year alone.

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are quite a different animal than FuelCell Energy’s current Direct FuelCell products, which can run on a variety of fuels ranging from natural gas to coal gas. But the company was chosen as a SECA team player because of its expertise shown in developing that current line of fuel cells.

In phase one of this program the SECA team is expected to develop SOFC modules ranging from 3 - 10 kilowatts that could be combined to make cogenerating power plants up to 100 kilowatts. Thermal energy from the high operating temperature SOFC fuel cells could be tapped to provide heat and hot water for homes or businesses. The program is aimed at commercializing fuel cell products for a wide variety of applications.

In this first phase, SOFC fuel cell modules are to be developed with efficiencies as high as 45 percent when running on natural gas. Later phases of the program include building SOFC fuel cells that operate on diesel fuel or propane, and some that operate in conjunction with a turbine or Stirling engine. Fuel cells too may be developed, if funding materializes, that operate at efficiencies up to 55 percent.

Others on the SECA team include Versa Power Systems, Materials and Systems Research Institute, the University of Utah, the Gas Technology Institute, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Dana Corporation and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Visit FuelCell Energy at http://www.fuelcellenergy.com/ , SECA at http://www.seca.doe.gov/ .