Hydrogen Mirror 5/2012

Transcription

1 1 CONTENTS 2 Mobile applications Toyota confirms Stationary Applications Molten carbonate fuel cell for the research ministry Zero speed fuel cell for Daimler Off-grid system in the Black Forest Infrastructure Another new filling station for Hamburg Making plans for California Wrong valve material with big effects Research News Japanese fuel cell maker opens test laboratory in Duisburg Green hydrogen from Dresden Energy and Climate Renewables successful Climate change may happen rapidly Politics Lighthouses begin to shine What else we have found Safety first... 7

2 2 MOBILE APPLICATIONS 2.1 TOYOTA CONFIRMS 2015 Toyota on August 8 confirmed plans to roll out a hydrogen fuel-cell sedan in This was said by Jim Lentz, president and CEO of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Lentz also said that future Toyota products would get advanced batteries that exceed the performance of today's lithium-ion cells. He said the lineup will include "a wider variety of hybrid vehicles and plug-in hybrids and a choice of pure electric vehicles." 3 STATIONARY APPLICATIONS 3.1 MOLTEN CARBONATE FUEL CELL FOR THE RESEARCH MINISTRY The new building of the German federal ministry for education and research will get a part of its energy from a fuel cell. FuelCell Energy Solutions GmbH, the German daughter of the US company FuelCell Energy, Inc., on August 7 announced the sale of a molten carbonate fuel cell power plant which is expected to be operational in It will operate over a ten year period around the clock. The Ministry required a state-of-the-art office complex that demonstrates the latest advances in energy efficiency and sustainability. The building will be equipped with a number of other demonstration projects, in air conditioning and lighting and also in the energy management. The power plant will meet approximately 40 % of the electrical and 20 % of the thermal power needs for the complex. A key benefit is its ability to provide both power and usable high quality heat from the same unit of fuel, supporting the economics through lower fuel usage as well as advancing sustainability initiatives. For this application, the heat will be used to generate steam for facility heating in the winter and will support an absorption chiller for cooling in the warmer months. (FuelCell Energy Inc. press release of 7. August 2012) 3.2 ZERO SPEED FUEL CELL FOR DAIMLER The main building of the Mercedes-Benz representation in Hamburg is the first of its kind in the world meeting its power and heat demand by means of a stationary fuel cell. Most of the power is now generated on site. In combination with other changes of the building the CO2 emissions of the representation drop by up to 60%. This corresponds to about 300 t CO2 per year.

3 The stationary fuel cell is running on natural gas. This process generates 100 kw electrical power and 120 kw heat which is used on site. The Hamburg representation of Mercedes-Benz invested an amount of about 1 M. The system is expected to earn this money in six to seven years. This makes the system efficient not only in terms ecology but also of economy. This innovative project stationary fuel cell was made possible by close cooperation with the innovative start-up N2telligence from Hamburg which is a specialist for systems like this. The systems offered by the two founders work more efficient and more silent and need less maintenance than conventional co-generation systems. (Daimler press release of 23. August 2012) 3.3 OFF-GRID SYSTEM IN THE BLACK FOREST The power supply for the Rappenecker Huette, a place in the Black Forest in SW Germany, is one of the key projects from the early history of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE the scientists from Freiburg installed a PV system on the inn which is located far away from any grid, providing not only a practical solution for the owners but makint it also a research station for off-grid energy supply systems a wind turbine was added and a fuel cell in 2003; the use of the diesel generator could be reduced more and more. On 27. Juli 2012 Rappenecker Huette celebrated not only the 350 th anniversary of its existence but also 25 years of successful PV history. In order to celebrate the jubilee the company FutureE provided a new fuel cell with periphery. Its efficiency of 55 % is much higher than that of the diesel generator making 15 % at most. The use of primary energy could be reduced by more than one half. Fuel cells also need very little maintenance. Another important point espcially in ecologically sensitive mountain regions is the reduction of threats to ground and water by loss of diesel fuel, in particular during transport. Sind 2003 the company basi Schoeberl provides free hydrogen. The diesel generator is kept only for emergency cases. (ISE press release of 27. July 2012)

4 4 INFRASTRUCTURE 4.1 ANOTHER NEW FILLING STATION FOR HAMBURG Industrial gas maker Air Products has delivered a new hydrogen filling station to Shell Germany; it was opened on 3. August 2012 in Hamburg-Bramfeld. It is fully integrated into an existing Shell station. At this time the station can provide about 40 kg hydrogen per day. This is enough to fill up about 50 vehicles. The hydrogen is a by-product from industrial processes; it is delivered by truck, stored, compressed to bar and kept in high pressure cylinders. Filling up takes about 3 minutes, which is comparable to the case of a conventional vehicle. (Air Products press release of 3. August 2012) 4.2 MAKING PLANS FOR CALIFORNIA California is one of the places where plans are made how many filling stations are needed where to serve the fuel cell vehicles expected to appear in Result: the state needs 60 stations, mainly in five urban areas where the vehicles are expected first, according to the California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP). For late 2015 they foresee 20,000 fuel cell cars already. The total costs will be some 65 M$ before the stations begin to bring profits. 45 of them will be in the areas of erkeley, San Francisco South Bay, Santa Monica/West Los Angeles, Southern Orange County, and Torrance, 23 more in areas like Pasadena and Sacramento; they will connect the centres and also involve other destinations as Napa, Santa Barbara, and San Diego. 4.3 WRONG VALVE MATERIAL WITH BIG EFFECTS Use of a valve made of a wrong material was the cause of a fire which severely damaged a hydrogen filling station in Californian Emeryville on May 4. This was the result of the investigation report by Sandia National Laboratories. The valve was made from a steel which is sensitive for hydrogen embrittlement. The manufacturer offers also a version made from a material suitable for hydrogen; why the wrong version was used is not known at this time. What is certain is that the hydrogen escaped, was ignited and burnt for two hours. The authorities evacuated apartments and companies around the station, among them also the well-known Pixar studios. Nobody was hurt. The Sandia report that the amount of damage is also due to lack of communication. The technology provider, Linde North America, and the operater, AC Transit, die not provide enough data to each other and the fire service. And there was no way to stop the gas supply so that the fire burnt longer than it would have been necessary. (San Jose Mercury News, 27. July 2012)

5 5 RESEARCH NEWS 5.1 JAPANESE FUEL CELL MAKER OPENS TEST LABORATORY IN DUISBURG The Japanese fuel cell heating appliance maker JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation (JX) has opened a test laboratory as part of the Centre for Fuel Cell Technology (ZB) at the University of Duisburg on July 6. The purpose is to test the use of the fuel cell systens under German conditions, in particular concerning gas composition and water quality. JX is among the leading fuel cell makers in Japan and plans to enter the European market. Of primary interest is SOFC technology because of its high electrical efficiency. JX has been working on it for more than 25 years. Market introduction of the system for private homes in Japan started last year. JX Senior Vice President Masuhiro Yamaguchi said: We are glad to start the international cooperation with ZBT which was made possible by the coordination of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. For ZBT the opening of the JX test laboratory is a further step to support the technical preparation of highly efficient fuel cell systems for co-generation purposes, said Angelika Heinzel, institute head of ZBT and professor at the university Duisburg-Essen. (Press release of Energieagentur NRW of 6. July 2012) 5.2 GREEN HYDROGEN FROM DRESDEN Since August 1, 2012 the Technical University of Dresden has an interdisciölinary working group of young scientists Biogenous hydrogen. The scientists want to develop a new technology to produce hydrogen by means of bacteria and algae. The conversion of energy to hydrogen is CO2neutral and plays an important role in the energy mix of the future. The project gets a support of 1.7 M from the European Social Fund (ESF). In the project the scientists of the Machinery faculty will investigate a biotechnical process for the production of hydrogen from natural ressources. The current challenge is to develop a technical process which converts solar energy to a clean fuel using biocatalysts. When this technological value creation succeeds then biohydrogen can play a decisive role in the energy concept of the federal government, said Prof. Thomas Bley, professor for bio-processing and expert for bioenergy.

6 6 ENERGY AND CLIMATE 6.1 RENEWABLES SUCCESSFUL Renewable power has exceeded the 25 % threshold of power generation in Germany for the first time in the first six months of According to an estimation of the Federal Association of the Energy and Water business (BDEW) renewables provided 67.9 billion kwh (first half of 2011: 56.4), a quarter of German power demand. The figure for the first half of 2011 was about 21 %. Wind power remains the most important renewable energy with a share of 9.2 % (2011: 7,7), followed by biomass with 5.7 % (2011: 5,3). Photovoltaics could increase its share in 2012 until now by 47 % and now ranks third with 533 % (2011: 3.6). The contribution of hydropower to electricity generation was 4.0 % (2011: 3.2), according to BDEW. The power generated from waste combustion and other renewables amounted to 0.9 % (2011: 0.9). (Press release of BDEW of 26. July 2012) 6.2 CLIMATE CHANGE MAY HAPPEN RAPIDLY Climate change is not necessarily a slow process dragging over decades. Investigations of Greenlandic ice cores which were made with unprecedented resolution show a change which happened about 14,700 years ago almost instantaneously. Atmospheric circulation changed within one to three years, causing to a warming of Greenland by about 10 C within ten years. It followed a cooling over a perion of two centuries, after which the climate warmed up again by 10 C within 60 years. This is due to a complex interaction of the air and water circulation known among experts as bipolar climate swing. J. P. Steffensen et al., Science 321 (2012) POLITICS 7.1 LIGHTHOUSES BEGIN TO SHINE The German federal ministries for economy (BMWi), environment and research have started 60 innovative research projects in the field of energy storage. 80 % of the power demand will have to be met from renewable sources until 2050 with the same requirements to supply safety. In order to reach this end the common research initiative Energy storage of the federal government will support technological break-throughs and cost reductions to contribute to a fast market introduction of new storage systems. Apart from the lighthouse Wind-hydrogen coupling, bundling projects about hydrogen or methane generation from excess wind power, and the lighthouse Batteries in distribution grids (coupling of battery systems with distributed renewable power plants, in particular photovoltaics) projects about energy system analysis and thermal storage will be funded. (Press release of BMWi of 11. July 2012)

7 8 WHAT ELSE WE HAVE FOUND SAFETY FIRST Hydrogen is safe, as we keep saying, at least not more dangerous than any other fuel. This was no doubt known to the organizers of the Olympic Games in London, but nevertheless the five hydrogen buses normally circulating between Covent Garden and Tower Gateway had to remain in the depot during the Games. The reason: this depot is close to the Olympic stadium, and during the games the transport of any dangerous goods in the whole vicinity was forbidden. Hydrogen is one of them, and so the filling station could not be serviced. Since the buses have started operation more than 1000 fillings have been done with out incident, neither was there any during the supply of the station. Remark: Yes, sure, safety first. We do not know whether other filling stations in the vicinity were closed as well; gas and diesel are not exactly harmless either, after all. What really worries is that inside the sport facilities there were contests in fencing, shooting, javelin, and boxing, which can have serious effects as well. There were even reports that some people fooled around with devices similar to weapons, also known as starting pistols, quite officially in the stadium. They used them to scare the runners who, predictably, dashed away as quickly as they could. What you start you should finish.