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The Hexis Galileo unit is a SOFC in which
excess gas is burned within the fuel cell stack to allow a high degree of
flexibility in the thermal output. The extremely high capital cost of these units means that the product
faces significant challenges before approaching economic viability.
Hexis, formerly Sulzer Hexis, is now an independent company following its
financial difficulties in early 2006.
Field trials are ongoing with a number of German utilities within the
Callux programme.
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CFCL have established a marketing base and
powder plant in the UK as well as
a manufacturing facility in Germany. They have supplied demonstration versions of
their Netgen micro CHP package to energy utilities in Australia, New
Zealand. and Germany.
CFCL recently announced collaboration agreements with Gaz de France
(France), EWE (Germany), and EON (UK) as well as boiler manufacturers Brunns (DE), Gledhill (UK) de Dietrich (France), and Paloma (Japan).
Electrical efficiencies greater than 60%
have been demonstrated. |
A UK based developer with a "low
temperature" SOFC using a supported membrane which claims to overcome
the challenges of thermal cycling. However, this also means that it
requires external reformation implying additional cost, complexity and
loss of efficiency.
Planning to
work with Centrica (British Gas) who have now acquired a 10% share in
the company and placed a notional order for 37,500 units.
A laboratory version was recently
demonstrated to investors and field trials are planned for 2011.
The fuel cell itself is wall-mounted, with
the balance of plant housed in an adjacent fridge-freezer sized cabinet. |
Recently
signed deal with MTS, an Italian boiler manufacture, to develop a
tubular design SOFC which may offer fabrication advantages.
Tubular SOFC is also able to respond more
rapidly to thermal cycling without damaging the ceramic components.
In late 2007, Acumentrics presented their
"wall-mounted" SOFC to a group of European utilities, and were expected to
trial their technology in 2008.
Laboratory trials continue. |
In
addition to collaboration with Wartsila, the Finnish CHP company, Topsoe
also recently announced their collaboration with Dantherm, the Danish air
conditioning company on smaller, 1kWe units.
A
high temperature SOFC, the Topsoe cells are claimed to be extremely
robust. |
Osaka Gas are collaborating with Kyocera on field trials leading to launch
in 2008-9 of their 0.7 kW SOFC micro-CHP system.
Osaka Gas has yet to announce a launch date for their PEM fuel cell
systems despite demonstrating several. This could be an indication
that they recognise the inherent advantages of SOFC and, like others are
moving towards that technology.
The lower electrical output than European
micro CHP units is a consequence of the Japanese market requirement to
avoid export of generated electricity. |
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Availability
Field trials in DE, CH
2005
Laboratory re-design 2006 |
Availability
Prototype packaged micro CHP system
Commercial 2kWe APU (Bluegen) available now
in limited volumes
Packaged micro CHP version field trial 2012 |
Availability
Limited field trials 2011 |
Availability
Laboratory demo stack
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Availability
Prototype packaged micro CHP system of larger (20kWe) product |
Availability
Field trials in Japan |
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