The Fuel Cell Industry: Stable and Worldwide

November 13, 2005 – Vol.10 No.34

THE FUEL CELL INDUSTRY: STABLE AND WORLDWIDE.

According the second annual Worldwide Fuel Cell Survey conducted by the U.S. Fuel Cell Council (USFCC), the industry is steady and stable, but not growing robustly like wind or solar. However, steady and stable are good words. By comparison, at less than ten years old the modern fuel cell industry is much newer than wind or solar. It has taken decades for the solar photovoltaic industry, for instance, to get traction.

The USFCC, using data supplied voluntarily by member companies as well as members of Fuel Cells Canada, Fuel Cell Europe, and the Fuel Cell Commercialization Conference of Japan, reported that sales of fuel cell products, parts and services were $331 million for 2004, down a fraction from 2003 when sales were $339 million.

Employment numbers showed the same relative steadiness 6267 in 2004, down a bit from 2003 at 6312 in 2003.

The amount of money spent on research and development spoke of the true nature of the industry. Although there are some commercial sales obviously, the industry is still in R&D mode. $659 million were spent on R&D in 2003, $716 million in 2004, up 9 percent.

The USFCC has more than 115 members. The analysis was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers to ensure the confidentiality of the respondent’s information. For a copy of the survey click http://www.usfcc.com/resources/2005WorldwideFuelCellSurvey.pdf.

To help illustrate the global reach of fuel cell technology, Fuel Cells 2000, a trade association, has developed a worldwide database of stationary fuel cell installations. The database, which includes installations past, present and planned for the future, features user sorting by manufacturer, location, technology, power range, fuel and the demonstration program the fuel cell power plant may be involved in.

Like the USFCC, Fuel Cells 2000 is a nonprofit organization created to help commercialize fuel cell technology. The database is free and available at http://www.fuelcells.org/ .