Fuel Cell Updates For Feb.25 to Mar 02, 2008

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March 02, 2008

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The following news items made headlines this week.

MTI MicroFuel Cells (MTI Micro), the developer of the award-winning Mobion® micro fuel cell technology and a subsidiary of Mechanical Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MKTY) unveiled a new prototype for the digital camera market at the 4th International Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Expo in Tokyo, Japan. In addition to a demonstration featuring the Company’s most recent Mobion® powered external power pack chargers, the new camera-grip prototype will be on display at booth number 5-14 along with a new embedded fuel cell concept model demonstrating Mobion’s® potential for integration into future portable electronic devices.

QuantumSphere, Inc., a leading manufacturer of nano metals and alloys for applications in renewable energy, portable power, defense, electronics and other markets demanding advanced materials, announced that it has achieved a breakthrough in clean hydrogen production through water electrolysis. Leveraging a proprietary advanced catalyst formulation, QSI-Nano NiFe(tm), QuantumSphere has effectively increased the surface area of commercial electrodes by approximately 1000 times. This increase is due to unique physical characteristics of nanoparticles. For example, a gram of QSI-Nano(r) materials have the surface area of about the size of a soccer field. To date, the QSI-Nano NiFe(tm) coated electrodes have surpassed 1,000-hour durability testing under harsh conditions (33% KOH, 1 A/cm2). These nano-enabled electrodes demonstrate QuantumSphere's ability to produce larger amounts of clean hydrogen on demand at improved rates.

Versa Power Systems, Inc., a leading developer of environmentally friendly Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) that generate clean electricity in compact form for both mobile and stationary applications, announced its SOFC technology was successfully integrated into an experimental test bed representative of a propulsion system for stealth surveillance vehicles under development by the U.S. Navy. An SOFC stack -- the basic clean-tech unit of a fuel cell that generates electricity through an electrochemical reaction -- was evaluated under conditions that simulate the expected demands on an Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV). The design goals of the UUV are for it to operate autonomously, undetected, and conduct surveillance over lengthy periods.

The Fraunhofer-Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS) located in Dresden (Germany), announced that it has recently opened its new SOFC test centre for verifying the practical performance of SOFC stacks and systems with the help of FuelCon’s test stations. At the inauguration of the test centre, the IKTS described the advanced stage of maturation of ceramic fuel cells as the main reason for establishing the new testing centre. During the following tour through the new-build facility, the invited guests were able to witness the ultra-modern test laboratory that is equipped with several Evaluator-S test systems as well as an autonomous gas supply.

HydroGen Corporation (Nasdaq:HYDG), a designer and manufacturer of multi-megawatt air-cooled phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) systems, announced that it has produced and delivered its first 400 kW module ahead of its previously announced commitment date of March 7, 2008. The PAFC module was shipped to the Company's 400 kW commercial demonstration power plant at the chlor-alkali facility owned and operated by ASHTA Chemicals, Inc. in Ashtabula, Ohio on February 22, 2008.

Ansaldo Fuel Cells, a Finmeccanica company coordinated by Ansaldo Energia, has signed a partnership agreement with Enel to develop, build and test an integrated trigeneration system with a molten carbonate fuel cells generation plant using Ansaldo Fuel Cells technology. The agreement launches a major partnership between Ansaldo Fuel Cells and Enel, involving the development of molten carbonate fuel cells.The agreement covers the joint construction by mid-2009 of a highly efficient highly efficient plant, with capacity of around 0.5 MW, at Enel’s research centre in Livorno, which will able to supply electricity as well as heating and cooling energy. Ansaldo Fuel Cells will install new components and solutions at the plant, which will provide superior performance compared to other demonstration plants completed successfully in recent years. The operation of the system by Enel Research staff will raise the profile of fuel cells technology and demonstrate its reliability, in addition to promoting and contributing actively to the development of a product designed in Italy.

Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd (CFCL), a global leader in fuel cell development, announced that it is investing €12.4 million in the construction of a manufacturing plant in Heinsberg, Germany for the commercial production of its fuel cell systems. CFCL also announces that it has received a volume order from Nuon, The Netherlands’ largest energy company and CFCL’s partner for that market. CFCL and Nuon have agreed on a set of performance targets for a commercial unit. On CFCL’s achievement of these targets, Nuon will order 50,000 fuel cell systems, to be delivered over a five year period from June 2009. The order is expected to generate substantial revenue for CFCL over the five years.CFCL’s fuel cell systems will be integrated into conventional boilers for use in the low carbon emission heating and power market. These new generation, highly efficient fuel cell boilers, known as micro-combined heat and power (mCHP) units, will be deployed by Nuon for its residential customers to generate both electricity and heating in their homes.

PolyFuel announced that it just completed the fourth milestone of a five-step, multi-year development plan intended to kick-start the commercial market for such power supplies. The endpoint of its roadmap is a working prototype designed to be integrated with a representative notebook PC, and which surpasses the performance of today’s Lithium-ion batteries in terms of runtime versus size, and weight. The underlying technology would then be made available to PolyFuel’s customers and partners as a reference design. With today’s announcement, that goal is closer at hand.What PolyFuel has accomplished is to have fundamentally solved the water management problem that has plagued portable fuel cell developers for nearly a decade. All fuel cells create water as a byproduct of the electricity generation process. The trick is what to do with it.

Electro Power Systems (ElectroPS), an Italian designer and manufacturer of stationary hydrogen fuel cell systems for business continuity, introduces the Electro7™ 19” rack mountable power system, which will be shown at Cebit, 4-9 March 2008 in Hannover Messe (Hall12, booth C82/1). The Electro7 19” rack mountable system has been specifically designed for streamlined integration with the new generation of shelters being deployed within the telecom industry, and can provide cost-effective, 24/7 on-demand power for critical backup applications in any number of business sectors.

BMW announced that highly respected film actor and renewable energy advocate Edward Norton is the latest person to receive keys to a BMW Hydrogen 7 - the first hydrogen-powered luxury sedan. The Golden Globe winner and two-time Academy Award nominee becomes the most recent member of the BMW Hydrogen 7 Pioneer Program, which gives industry leaders and prominent figures in entertainment, politics, business and more a BMW Hydrogen 7 for their daily use.

Finally on February 25th, the Competitiveness Council reached an agreement of the main elements for the launching of a Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative. Competitiveness ministers of the 27 Member States yesterday discussed a European Commission proposal for a public/private research partnership ("Joint Technology Initiative") to develop Fuel Cell and Hydrogen technology. This industry-led integrated programme of research, technology development and demonstration activities will receive € 470 million of funding from the EU's research programme over the next six years, an amount to be matched by the private sector. At the same meeting, ministers discussed the Strategic Energy Technology Plan, which mentions this initiative as an example for future European actions to develop new energy technologies.The Council reached an agreement on a general approach for the setting up of a fuel cells and hydrogen joint technology initiative (JTI). This JTI is aimed at coordinating European research efforts by providing a framework encouraging large companies and SMEs throughout the EU to collaborate between themselves together with other stakeholders within the fuel cells and hydrogen field.

As always, I hope everyone enjoys reading the newsletters, and I thank you for your interest in Fuel Cells. Please support our sponsors by visiting the links and reviewing their sites.And please do not hesitate to comment on any of the headlines or related FuelCellWorks pages. And if anyone has any links/articles that they would like to contribute to the next newsletter, please send them along. And for those interested in donating to FuelCellWorks, please follow this link .

Manny Tsoupanarias
Editor
Fuel Cell Works

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