The Industry

Benefits

Fuel Cell Potential
Low Carbon Economy
Transport Applications
Stationary Applications
Energy Security
Renewables

Fuel cells can:

contribute substantially to a global low carbon economy;
improve urban air quality and the health of urban populations^[1];
contribute to the alleviation of fuel poverty through superior efficiency relative to conventional technologies (particularly in CHP mode)^[2];
form the basis of a 21st Century industrial sector that allows sustainable growth of the world economy;
enhance energy security by allowing a wider choice of fuels; and
help to overcome the intermittency of renewables and deliver improved power management.

Contributing to a low carbon economy, improving air quality and alleviating fuel poverty

In transport applications

In 2004, 27% of CO2 emissions were produced by the transport sector. Results from a full lifecycle analysis, comparing CO2 emissions from a traditional petrol internal combustion engine, with CO2 emissions from a hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicle, show that the internal combustion engine accounts for 167g/km, while the fuel cell system produces from 0g/km (when fuelled by renewably generated hydrogen) to 85g/km (when fuelled by hydrogen generated using fossil fuels)^[3]
Fuel cell powered vehicles are generally seen as the ultimate low carbon vehicle technology across the range of road vehicle types (cars, buses, vans etc.)
The hydrogen needed to power fuel cell vehicles can be produced directly from a wide range of zero carbon sources such as biomass (at a much lower carbon footprint than second generation biodiesel), nuclear or solar (directly from the heat, not via electricity) as well as from conventional fossil fuels and via electrolysis.
Greater use of fuel cell powered vehicles could potentially improve the efficiency of the operation of the grid by smoothing the differential between supply and demand of renewable energy. Here, fuel cell powered vehicles have the advantage over electric vehicles in that they could be refuelled at any time, with the energy stored as hydrogen prior to use. Thus, it would not be necessary to adjust fuelling times to directly link these to periods where supply exceeds demand (which is difficult to envisage as a realistic way forward on a sufficiently large scale).
Through the use of hydrogen as an energy store (with excess electricity converted to hydrogen via electrolysis), fuel cell vehicles can help to mitigate intermittency issues around renewables, thus allowing a greater proportion of renewables to be accommodated. As above, the use of hydrogen as the energy store would provide greater flexibility and avoid the need for the fuelling of vehicles to be linked to patterns of power supply and demand.
Fuel cell vehicles (powered via hydrogen) could contribute to the 10% renewable transport target.
Furthermore, fuel cell vehicles offer much greater range than electric vehicles, making them more acceptable for the variety of trips typically undertaken in cars in the UK.
Even as an intermediate step to full deployment, the use of fuel cells as a range extender for electric vehicles can have a profound impact on their ‘usability’ and operational flexibility in meeting daily duty cycles, lifting the range of a conventional electric vehicle from around 100km to around 300km between charges.
Commercialisation of fuel cell vehicles is one of the most promising aspects and is undergoing rapid development, with major OEMs moving their fuel cell programmes from research to product development phases, and with large investments being made in real vehicle development. Initial fleet demonstrations are underway and commercial launch plans have been announced: Daimler, General Motors, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai and Toyota each have programmes aimed at commercial launch of tens of thousands of fuel cell vehicles by 2015.

In stationary applications

Several medium scale (200–1000kWe) fuel cell technologies are coming to the market, offering the potential to deliver clean, quiet heat and power at efficiencies (electricity and heat) in the 80-90% range, whilst high efficiency power only generation fuel cell systems provide equally impressive benefits (this compares with an efficiency of 35% for conventional power generation). Whilst individual solutions are at different stages of development, costs are already starting to become competitive with central generation for some, and are forecast to drop significantly with even modest increases in volume.
The adoption of fuel cell microgeneration technologies would allow a step change in the carbon footprint of the existing residential sector. A recent study by Element Energy, concluded that within the microgeneration sector alone fuel cells fuelled by natural gas could cut CO2 emissions by 5% and meet 18% of the UK’s energy needs. This is significantly more than contributions from the other technologies modelled, including micro-wind, biomass and solar P.V.
Improved grid resilience: The inherent reliability and fundamental resilience of a distributed energy model would help deliver increased capacity and reliability at a lower load on the national grid network.

Enabling sustainable growth of the world economy

Creation of new “green collar” jobs: Recent reports indicate that the fuel cell sector is expanding rapidly, with a 22% gain in fuel cell specific employment in 2006, building on a 12% increase in 2005 ^[4].
Growth of intellectual property within the UK: Strong research and development activity means that the UK is the second most successful country in the EU (behind Germany) at securing new fuel cell related patents.
Improved competitiveness on the emerging energy markets globally: The UK represents one of the strongest global markets for fuel cell investment. In 2008 there were 10 times as many companies listed on the AIM market as the NASDAQ. These developments ensure that the UK is able to compete globally and continue attracting investors and creating wealth.

Enhancing energy security

Fuel cells offer an excellent contribution to the reliability of energy supplies, as they can be run on a wide and growing range of fuels. They support the development of distributed power generation and can help to provide a buffer for fluctuating renewable power. Without the introduction of fuel cells in the UK, the impacts of falling indigenous supplies are likely to be significantly greater.

Improving the management of renewables

The need for changes to the current market regime will be minimised through the adoption of energy storage technologies to operate alongside new large scale renewable generators. Fuel cell systems coupled with other storage systems can address two important issues here – the specific ability to store energy (to cope with intermittent production) and the ability to manage and deliver power (both to help overcome grid constraints and to control power output to prevent power generators dropping offline or overloading the grid infrastructure)
Energy Storage: Fuel cells, in partnership with electrolysers and hydrogen storage systems, can help to address situations when electricity production from renewables exceeds demand, using excess electricity to produce hydrogen, which can be stored and then used in a fuel cell to meet demand for either stationary power or motive power for a fuel cell powered vehicle.
Storage, in combination with fuel cells, can also be used to assist with peak shaving when demand is high and renewable electricity production is insufficient to meet demand. In addition to increasing the reliability of supply, this negates the need for traditional spinning or standing reserve, which tend to be either open gas turbine generators, or fossil fuel power plants that are used as back-up to provide emergency power at peak times. This traditional approach has negative implications both in terms of carbon emissions and the renewable energy challenge.
Power Management: Power outputs and loads associated with some renewable energy projects, particularly those based on wind, can create problems for the grid since they can create significant fluctuations in frequency, either overloading the system if frequencies are too high or dropping off the grid if frequencies are too low. Managing this output with a fuel cell / battery hybrid system will smooth power outputs, reducing thermal loads, voltage variation, frequency variation and fault currents, so allowing the same cables to carry more power without the need to upgrade. Such combined fuel cell and storage systems would be particularly attractive in a distributed generation scenario where power demand can fluctuate substantially.
An example of a working fuel cell installation in this type of application is the PURE Project on Unst in the Shetland Islands. The system consists of two 15kW wind turbines, a high pressure hydrogen electrolyser, high pressure hydrogen storage device and a fuel cell. An inverter is used to convert the DC output from the fuel cell into AC which provides power and heating for five businesses on the island. The stored hydrogen is also used to power fuel cell / battery hybrid vehicles.

References

Fuel cell power plants produce substantially less pollution than conventional plants. Reductions ranging from 40% (summer smog) to almost 90% (eutrophication or magnification of toxic substances along food chains) are achievable, depending on the incumbent technology they are compared to (World Wild Life Fund and Fuel Cell Europe, 2003).
Solid Oxide Fuel Cells can achieve 40-60% electrical efficiency in simple and hybrid combination and, given their high operating temperatures, up to 85% efficiency in combined heat and power applications (Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance, 2004) compared with 30%-38% for conventional boilers.
Well-to-Wheels analysis of future automotive fuels and powertrains in the European context, Well-to-wheels Report version 2b, May 2006.
2007 Worldwide Fuel Cell Industry Survey