US DoE awards Jeff Serfass for fuel cell leadership

The US Department of Energy (DoE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program last week presented a Special Recognition Award to Managing Director of the California Hydrogen Business Council (CHBC), Jeff Serfass in recognition of “outstanding leadership, commitment and collaboration in developing a unified industry stakeholder association, and for contributions to the DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program.”

This award was presented to Mr Serfass by Sunita Satyapal, DoE’s Manager of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program for his former role as President of the National Hydrogen Association alongside the leaders of the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association and the former U.S. Fuel Cell Council at DOE’s 2013 Annual Merit Review. 

Dr Satyapal said: “Jeff’s service over more than 22 years is especially well known for his outstanding support of student education and outreach. He continues to be a very strong advocate for hydrogen energy in numerous other venues, always ensuring that hydrogen and fuel cells are well represented as he branches out into other clean energy technology areas.”

As we move ever closer towards the commercialisation of hydrogen in transportation, stationary and now consumer electronics, we are pleased to see early pioneers such as Jeff Serfass recognised for their contributions to the hydrogen industry.

Jeff continues to play an active role as President of the Hydrogen Education Foundation, which produces innovative national competitions and events such as the 2012 Washington Fuel Cell Summit.

Once again, we’d like to offer Jeff our congratulations on a well-deserved award!

Intelligent Energy

Don’t forget hydrogen in the carbon capture debate

Last month’s budget from George Osborne made headlines because of the Chancellor’s plans to boost the UK housing market.

However, hidden in the detail was the announcement that the Government had selected the gas-fired power station at Peterhead in Aberdeenshire (owned by Shell and SSE) and the coal-fired power station at Drax in North Yorkshire – the UK’s single largest emitter of CO₂ – as the two preferred bidders in the £1 billion competition to encourage the development of Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) technology in the UK.

In essence, CCS is environmentally friendly technology that can capture harmful CO₂ emissions, to prevent them escaping into the atmosphere. The Peterhead project involves capturing around 90% of the CO₂ from part of the existing power station before transporting and storing it in a depleted gas field beneath the North Sea. The second project, which involves Alstom, Drax Power, BOC and National Grid, comprises capturing CO₂ and storing it in a saline aquifer beneath the southern North Sea. A further two projects have been selected in reserve.

The Government signaled that it will make a final investment decision in early 2015 for up to two projects. But, noticeable by its absence, was the fact that the Government’s plans did not consider the important role that hydrogen has to play in the CCS debate, both in the UK and further afield.

Indeed, CCS technology has yet to operate with power generation on a commercial scale and to date the technology’s potential to generate significant hydrogen (for use as a fuel) using ‘pre-combustion’ technology has been overlooked. However, such ‘pre-combustion’ technology could today be utilised in fertilizer, chemical and power plants, all of which produce significant quantities of CO₂. In these instances, fossil fuel is partially oxidized in a gasifier, producing syngas (CO and H₂) which is then converted into CO₂ and H₂.

There are currently a number of pre-combustion CCS projects in operation across the world: five in North America, two in Europe and one in Africa. These are mostly constituents of natural gas processing plants.

At the same time, CCS technology more generally is moving on apace, indicating the potential that the process offers for containing and diverting carbon emissions. Skyonic Corp, a carbon capture technology developer backed by BP and ConocoPhillips, recently obtained funding for its commercial project which will ‘mineralise’ CO₂ emissions into chemical by-products, including hydrochloric acid for use in shale gas extraction.

On the political front, however, complicating the issue of carbon capture is whether the EU should postpone the auction of carbon allowances to industry. This auction threatens to push down the price of carbon, undermining the economics of CCS technology. A group comprising some of Europe’s biggest companies called the EU corporate leaders group (which includes Germany’s Eon, France’s Alstom and Sweden’s Ikea) have backed the postponement because they have invested in CCS technologies which require higher carbon prices to be commercially viable.

How hydrogen can make renewable energy a reality

Hydrogen is gaining recognition among policy makers, with the public and across industry as a source of zero-emission, ‘clean’ energy. This is particularly, but not exclusively, in the automotive sector.  Business is also catching on to the use of hydrogen as a fuel for mobile consumer electronics devices and stationary power, particularly in emerging markets such as India and Africa.

In addition, some of the world’s biggest companies are waking up to its further ability to make renewables, potentially a source of highly efficient but low-carbon energy, an enduring part of the global energy mix. They are realising that hydrogen can be used as a ‘buffer’ to mitigate the intermittent nature of renewable energies such as wind and solar.

Indian conglomerate Tata and German utility E.ON are among the corporations that have invested in start-up companies, or are trialling projects, with the long-term aim of commercialising technology that uses hydrogen to store renewable energy.

This is important because the electricity grid needs a steady source of energy to power our homes: renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind power, are intermittent in nature and often produce either too much power for the grid to take, or too little.

Oil giant Shell is the latest global energy company to back the transformative power of hydrogen. Its corporate venturing arm, Shell Technology Ventures, has announced it has a pot of several hundred million dollars to invest in emerging technologies, including hydrogen fuel and the energy storage systems needed to enhance the reliable supply or generation of energy from renewable sources.

By means of electrolysis using electricity generated from these renewable sources, water is split into its constituent parts, forming hydrogen (and oxygen). By capturing this hydrogen, renewable energy can be stored in large quantities for extended periods of time, overcoming one of the major barriers to the large scale uptake of renewable power. The stored hydrogen can subsequently be used in a fuel cell to provide electric power, as required, or added to the existing natural gas network. In this way, low-emission hydrogen produced from a renewable source helps to improve the carbon footprint of gas burning power stations

There are currently a number of active projects in this exciting area. In Germany, six projects are either underway or being planned to demonstrate the concept of using hydrogen as an energy store for wind power.

UKH2Mobility publishes its full report on the future of FCEVs in the UK

Last week, the UKH2Mobility project published its full report on the potential of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) in the UK. The report provides further details and background to the findings published on 4 February 2013 – Future of Hydrogen Powered Cars Mapped by the UKH2Mobility Project.

The UKH2Mobility project brings together leading businesses from the automotive, energy, infrastructure and retail sectors with government, and provides a ‘roadmap’ for the introduction of vehicles and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure in the UK.

Co-founded by Intelligent Energy, UKH2Mobility is a ground breaking industry led task force, which includes twelve industry participants, together with three UK government departments – The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, The Department for Transport and the Department for Energy and Climate Change in addition to the European Fuel Cells & Hydrogen Joint Undertaking.

Key findings of the roadmap show, that by 2030:

• FCEVs will be at least cost-competitive with conventional vehicles
• A network of 1,150 HRS can cover the whole country
• 1.6 million FCEVs could be on UK roads
• The HRS network is past its break-even point
• Hydrogen production and retailing can be an attractive and profitable business, leading to the natural growth of the HRS network as the FCEV fleet grows
• CO2 emissions (including fuel production) can be 75% lower for FCEVs than for equivalent diesel vehicles, and on a trajectory to zero CO2 emissions by 2050
• FCEVs will be on course to reach a 20-50% market share, in line with the DECC 2050 Pathway Analysis.

Welcoming the publication of the report, Business and Energy Minister Michael Fallon said: “Securing new economic opportunities for the UK, diversifying our national energy supply and driving down carbon emissions go to the heart of my job in government. The findings of the report demonstrate hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles can have a real impact on all three.

“It is very positive that all the UKH₂Mobility partners will be joining us in the next phase of the project where they will be joined by Sainsbury’s. Successful commercialisation of the technology will require government to work in strong partnership with industry.

“Prompt action is needed to ensure the potential benefits are realised by businesses and consumers in the UK and work on the next phase will start straight away”.

The next few years are critical to the commercialisation of FCEVs and hydrogen refuelling in the UK. A number of major carmakers, specifically in Japan, are already targeting to make FCEVs available to the public by 2015.

The UK Government has stated its desire for the UK to be at the global forefront of the design, development, manufacture and use of ULEVs. This reports shows that the UK’s automotive sector is well positioned to take a role in the commercialisation of FCEV and hydrogen refuelling technologies.

The second phase of the UKH2₂Mobility project, to be completed in 2013, will build on the fact base produced in the first phase. It aims to develop the integrated business case for realising all parts of the roadmap and address key barriers to the introduction of FCEVs to the UK.

Click here to read the full report.

Outlook for 2013 (Part 3): Future Telecoms Infrastructure

In the third part of our outlook series, we take a look at the changing dynamics of the always-on telecoms infrastructure.

Telecoms infrastructure across the globe is rapidly changing as a result of increasing consumer demand and investment by operators. We expect that this demand will be significantly influenced by requirements from developing nations, with increased investment in telecoms. However, these markets face a critical issue – unreliable electrical grid supply.

Roughly 70 per cent of the approximately 400,000 mobile towers in India (one of the biggest telecoms markets) face electrical grid outages in excess of 8 hours a day. To mitigate this, telecoms tower operators currently use diesel generators and batteries to generate power. This has led to the telecoms tower industry in India consuming over 2.5 billion litres of diesel annually – see our whitepaper on The True Cost of Providing Energy to Telecom Towers in India for reference.

The rising operating costs, the logistical issues and the environmental cost of using diesel means the industry has to look for alternative solutions for the future.

Renewable energy technology

In light of these issues, we can expect the telecoms industry to focus on practical cleaner and cost-competitive solutions to overcome the power challenge and huge cost implications – in addition to the above, read our whitepaper on Green Solutions for Telecom Towers.

When faced with grid failure, telecom operators need a supply of reliable energy to keep the critical systems going. In essence, it needs to be always on. We expect telecoms operators to invest in technologies such as fuel cell back-up power systems as they offer longer, continuous and durable run time with the added bonus of zero emissions. Additionally (and arguably more importantly for developing nations), the cost is significantly cheaper than using diesel.

Consolidation

On a macro level, we can expect to see a lot more consolidation from providers in order to achieve scale. The increase in demand for telecom services, the rising operational expenditure and the increased competition in the market will see an increase in mergers and acquisition.

From a network operator’s point of view, we have already seen the merger of Orange and T-Mobile in the UK to form Everything Everywhere, allowing them to successfully compete for the 4G services rollout. The consolidation of the market will also present an opportunity for niche players to succeed based on innovative technologies and smart business models. The key opportunity lies in each operator gauging its capabilities and making the business decision to either consolidate or specialise in its own area.

Government subsidies

The other trend that we can expect to see is that governments will begin to invest in supporting telecoms infrastructure. For example, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has started granting subsidies to encourage the successful development of telecom towers. As the public sector continues to realise the opportunities that connectivity affords not only the population but the economy as a whole, we expect to see more support for telecoms operators and investment in the infrastructure to sustain this progress.

There is no doubt that the telecoms infrastructure will continue to evolve as fixed and mobile communications increase. The key to success lies in choosing the right, sustainable technology and leveraging the available resources at the right time to ensure that the customers stay connected, and the telecoms infrastructure remains always-on.

Outlook for 2013 (Part 2): Automotive – Alternative Power

In the second part of our outlook series, we take a look at the emergence of the fuel cell electric alternative for the automotive industry.

Tailpipe emissions are responsible for numerous environmental and public health issues. As such, European Union legislation sets mandatory emission reduction targets for new cars. This legislation is the cornerstone of the EU’s strategy to improve the fuel economy of new cars sold on the European market.

The European Commission’s Roadmap for moving to a competitive low-carbon economy in 2050 has agreed to cut emissions to 80% below 1990 levels through domestic reductions alone. The roadmap set outs various milestones, which form a pathway towards reaching this goal – reductions of 40% by 2030 and 60% by 2040. However, the move towards to low carbon society by 2050 will require a 95% decarbonisation of the road transport sector.

As it stands, the number of passenger cars is set to rise to 273 million in Europe – and to 2.5 billion worldwide by 2050. As such, full decarbonisation will not be achievable through improvements in the traditional internal combustion engine or the use of alternative fuels alone.

To date, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) have been the more popular of the alternative power solutions. However, ultra low-carbon electric power-trains featuring hydrogen fuel cells provide one of the most promising, practical and efficient options..

In recent months, a number of carmakers have bolstered their commitment to develop a commercially available fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV). Pike predicts that about 3,500 units will be shipped from the likes of Toyota, Daimler, Hyundai and Honda – primarily to companies that manage public and private fleets. Beyond 2013, Nissan has announced the TeRRA concept, a hydrogen fuel cell powered SUV; Mercedes is planning its fuel cell debut for 2014 with the B-Class F-CELL compact; Toyota and Hyundai have revealed they will release their fuel cell cars in 2015 with the FCV-R and ix35 respectively.

The advantage of fuel cell cars is shorter fuelling times and greater range. A battery-powered car will tend to have a limited real-world range and can take many hours to charge. In contrast a fuel cell car be driven for hundreds of miles and refuelled in minutes at the pump – much like conventional internal combustion engine vehicles. In short, FCEVs provide practical zero tail-pipe emission electric vehicles, with performances similar to existing vehicles, which do not require significant changes to consumers’ motoring behaviour, routine and performance expectations.

In a survey of carmaker executives conducted by KPMG, respondents expected that among electric vehicles, hybrids will have the highest customer demand by 2025, followed by FCEVs, outdoing the demand of battery only-powered cars.

Innovate UK – The UK’s leading multi-sector innovation & trade event for business

The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) have partnered in North London this week to bring us Innovate UK, a combination of the previously successful Innovate and TechWorld events.

The three day event has attracted an estimated 4,000 delegates from UK and International business, Government and academia. Highlights over the three days have included: [Day 1] a showcase of what UK innovation has to offer both domestic and international businesses and investors; [Day 2] a showcase of market opportunities and cutting edge technologies in a range of priority areas, including business opportunities in energy security, environmental stability and opportunities created by the 2020 and 2050 low carbon energy targets and [Day 3 – today] targeted at growing businesses, bringing together leading entrepreneurs, investors and support organisations all under one roof.

The aim of the event is to drive economic growth by stimulating business-led innovation and opening up international trade opportunities for the UK’s brightest technological innovators. Over two years, businesses that have attended Innovate and TechWorld generated over £70m worth of UK trade as a direct result with attendees from either show identifying new business growth opportunities.

Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board said: “All our exhibitors are specially selected by the Technology Strategy Board and UKTI to feature at the exhibition and are ones that can demonstrate truly innovative products, services or technologies that have been developed here in the UK.”

Nick Baird, Chief Executive of UK Trade & Investment said: “Over the last two years, 65% of businesses that attended Innovate and TechWorld have identified new business opportunities and 77% said they learned something that would help them to innovate. By bringing the events together we hope to deliver even more success for UK businesses whether by helping them grow through innovation, international trade and investment or collaborative opportunities.”

As we experienced at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi earlier in the year, we are starting to see money flow back into deals, which have been shown to make money.  Let’s hope we can replicate this in the UK.

For more information, visit www.innovateuk2013.co.uk or follow the event on Twitter @InnovateUK or join the conversation on connect

Outlook for 2013: Energy Markets and Policy (Part 1)

In a series of forward looking blog posts, we’ll take a look at some of the key energy trends to dominate to agenda in 2013. This will include: Energy Markets and Policy; Automotive; Mobile Devices and Battery Life; and Telecom Infrastructure. This week, we take a look at Energy Markets and Policy.

Global energy infrastructure is aging; much of it needs replacing and under extreme pressure from increasing demand. However, the cost of updating or replacing it is expensive, which calls for a smart approach to maximising existing and new infrastructure. To complicate matters, this approach needs to meet our vision of future energy needs, infrastructure capabilities, and as such, the energy mix.

Fossil fuels will dominate the energy markets for some time yet, but demand for renewable / alternative / clean energy sources will continue to grow. This transition to a new energy landscape will be a feature of the coming decades, as new technologies, energy infrastructure expansion, and tougher policy measures help to carve out a more sustainable energy mix. 

Infrastructure investment and policy decisions will define the environmental and energy security legacy of today’s political and business leaders.

• In the US, a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline is likely to emerge early this year. The 2,000 mile long pipeline will be a $7bn infrastructure investment, creating over 20,000 jobs across the five states it runs through
• Europe requires an estimated investment of EUR 200 billion within the next 10 years for the construction of gas pipelines and electricity grids.  Current investment levels are not enough to achieve this level of energy infrastructure modernisation.  In 2013, European leaders will vote on the much needed regulation to enable the trans-European energy infrastructure.  This will be a huge step towards energy supply stability across the region – one that will also create positive ripples for the European economy and jobs market
• Governments and policy makers in Asia will increasingly embrace progressive national energy policies and encourage a drive towards greater energy efficiency.  The age of government subsidised, cheap energy will soon be behind us, as seen recently in India.  The Indian government reduced diesel subsidies in September 2012 – also sending a clear sign to the world that it is serious about fiscal consolidation, under the current economic climate.  The regional energy mix will also shift the balance in favour of energy from renewable sources – also in a bid to reduce CO₂ emissions and pollution levels in some of the busiest cities in Asia
• During the 1981-2011 period, China’s energy consumption increased by 5.82 per cent annually, underpinning the 10-per cent annual growth of the national economy.  China’s Energy Policy 2012 whitepaper (published in October 2012) lays clear a path of hi-tech infrastructure, low consumption of resources, light environmental pollution, sound economic returns, as well as energy security.  The Chinese leadership has actively stressed the role and development of hydropower, solar power and wind power generation within the energy mix by 2015.

Large-scale energy storage will also move into the spotlight, as foundations of a smarter connected energy infrastructure are laid in 2013 and beyond.  As we become more dependent on the connected conveniences offered by technology, demand for electricity will only increase. 

The important question is: in addition to the need to build new energy storage capabilities, can we exploit the existing infrastructure to help manage intelligent storage? 

Future of Hydrogen Powered Cars Mapped by the UKH2Mobility Project

On Monday, 4^th February, the UKH2Mobility project released the results of its interim report, evaluating the benefits of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and paving the future for commercial roll-out in the UK.

The project brings together leading businesses from the automotive, energy, infrastructure and retail sectors with Government to provide a ‘roadmap’ for the introduction of vehicles and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure in the UK.

Key findings from the report include: 

• Up to 10% of new car customers will be receptive to fuel cell vehicles when first introduced, attracted by the newness of the technology and environmental benefits
• Once mass FCEV production is established, bringing costs down, there is the potential for 1.6 million vehicles on UK roads by 2030, with annual sales of more than 300,000
• An initial roll-out of 65 stations would provide sufficient coverage in line with early vehicle sales, with the network growing in line with the number of FCEVs on the road to provide 1,150 sites by 2030
• FCEVs could reduce UK annual total vehicle CO2 emissions by three million tonnes in 2030. Replacing diesel vehicles with FCEVs could also save between £100 million and £200 million a year in the cost of damage to air quality caused by vehicle emissions by 2050.

The UKH2Mobility consortium positions the UK as a lead market for the roll-out of fuel cell electric vehicles, directly contributing to national decarbonisation and air quality improvement objectives.

As a founding member of UKH2Mobility and an Associate Partner of its German counterpart, the project is particularly relevant for UK companies such as Intelligent Energy in building on our leading fuel cell expertise, developing our local supply chains and in creating additional opportunities for our products.

Strategic partnerships

Fuel cell vehicles are on the agenda for other reasons with the announcement of two new partnerships in recent weeks. Toyota Motor Corporation and BMW Group last month agreed to share their fuel cell technologies and jointly develop a fuel cell vehicle platform by 2020.

Separately, , Daimler AG, the Ford Motor Company, and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. has signed a three-way agreement for the joint development of a common fuel cell system for use in separate mass-market cars from 2017.

Such partnerships are proving popular for several reasons. They can help reduce the investment costs associated with the development of fuel cell technology, and partners can benefit from the pooled intellectual property and shared resources.

SMILE FC System Corporation, the joint venture between Intelligent Energy and Suzuki Motor Corporation, created in February 2012, in Japan to develop and manufacture fuel cell systems for the automotive and other industry sectors, also highlights the way that leading companies can collaborate to help drive fuel cell products forward and towards commercialisation.

The Fourth EU-U.S. Energy Council

The EU-U.S. Energy Council met on 5 December 2012 in Brussels to reaffirm the importance of EU–US cooperation in energy research and innovation. The Council was chaired by EU High Representative/Vice President, Catherine Ashton; Commissioner for Energy, Günther Oettinger; Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and Deputy Secretary of Energy, Daniel Poneman.  

The Energy Council used the meeting to take stock of 2012 but also to look ahead to the future. In particular, the Council acknowledged the importance of new, clean and low-carbon technologies to drive economic growth.

The Energy Council welcomed the work carried out by the Technology Working Group to enhance collaboration and finalisation of a Joint Rolling Action Plan. The aim of the plan is to guide cooperation through joint and coordinated research, twinning of projects and exchange of researchers, focused on the four priority areas endorsed by the Council in 2011. These include: smart grids including energy storage; materials including critical materials; nuclear fusion; and hydrogen and fuel cells.

The Council called for further action in these areas over 2013, as well as continued work on existing and new cooperative activities in the working group’s overarching technology areas.

Such partnerships are a precursor to further development, none so more important than between the EU and U.S., which has led the development of hydrogen fuel cells. This has in part has been driven by industry and consumer demand for sustainable and secure access to energy.

EU-U.S. Energy Council Brussels, 5 December 2012