• The Industry

Benefits

Fuel cells and hydrogen energy can:

• contribute substantially to a global low carbon economy;
• deliver environmental and economic benefits across various sectors, including transportation, power generation, industrial equipment, military power, and consumer electronics;
• 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, extending the life of fossil fuels and optimising renewable energy sources;
• help to overcome the intermittency of renewables and deliver improved power management; and
• deliver secure and affordable power systems for remote communities, eliminating demand for the use of conventional diesel generators.

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

In transport applications

• In 2009, 22% of the UK green house gas emissions were produced by the transport sector [3]. Results from a full lifecycle analysis, comparing CO2 emissions from a traditional petrol internal combustion engine, with CO2 emissions from a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), 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) [4].
• FCEVs are generally seen as the ultimate low carbon vehicle. They have a driving performance (acceleration), range (around 600km) and refuelling time comparable to current petrol / diesel vehicles. They are the lowest carbon solution for medium / larger cars and longer trips. Given that these car segments account for 50% of all cars, and 75% of CO2 emissions in Europe, this makes FCEVs most effective low carbon solution for a large proportion of the car fleet, with a potential to achieve 80% CO2 reduction in Europe by 2030 compared to today [5].
• The hydrogen needed to power FCEVs 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. It is expected that the cost of hydrogen will fall by 70% by 2025 due to higher utilisation of hydrogen infrastructure and economies of scale [5].
• Greater use of FCEVs could potentially improve the efficiency of the operation of the grid by smoothing the differential between supply and demand of renewable energy. Here, FCEVs have the advantage over other 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), FCEVs can help mitigate intermittency issues around renewables, thus allowing a greater proportion of renewables to be accommodated.
• Even as an intermediate step to full deployment, the use of fuel cells as a range extender for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) can have a profound impact on their ‘usability’ and operational flexibility in meeting daily duty cycles, lifting the range of a conventional BEVs from around 100km to around 300km between charges.
• Commercialisation of FCEVs 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 fleets are already being demonstrated 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 electric vehicles by 2015.

In stationary applications

• Medium scale (200-1,000kWe) stationary fuel cells systems are available today, with over 90 MW of CHP or CCHP plants installed worldwide. CHP plants deliver clean, quiet heat and power at efficiencies (electricity and heat) in the 80-90% range, and high efficiency power only generation fuel cell systems provide equally impressive benefits (this compares with an efficiency of 35% for conventional power generation). Costs are becoming competitive with central generation for some, and are forecast to drop significantly with even modest increases in volume.
• The largest unit presently installed in the UK is 200kW, of which there are presently three. A 300kW CCHP plant is due for installation in central London shortly.
• Good quality CHP powered by a fuel cell will reduce CO2 emissions by a minimum of 43% compared to running off the grid. The best ICE powered system will reduce it by 28% [6].
• The adoption of fuel cell microgeneration technologies will enbable a step change in the carbon footprint of the residential sector. In 2009, 14% of overall UK green house gas emissions originated from residential fossil fuel use [3]. Fuel cell microCHP (depending on model) can save up to 2.5t CO2 when replacing today’s boilers; this is equivalent to 40-50% of a typical UK home’s footprint.
• Microgeneration products, such as fuel cell micro-CHP, could meet 30-40% of the UK’s electricity needs according to a study from the Energy Saving Trust and could therefore make a vital contribution to reaching the Government’s target of an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 [7]. Furthermore, by reducing home’s total energy costs (gas + electricity) by around 25%, fuel cell microCHP will help affordability and address fuel poverty [7].
• Installing 5.6 million fuel cell microCHP units in the residential sector by 2020, could deliver CO2 savings equivalent to the emissions from eight new 750MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine power stations.
• Stationary fuel cell systems have a role to play in improved grid resilience. The inherent reliability and fundamental resilience of a distributed energy model, based on fuel cells and other distributed technologies, will help deliver increased capacity and reliability at a lower load on the national grid network.
• There is strong interest among utilities worldwide in MW scale high efficiency stationary power (as distinct from CHP). This is driven by constraints on expanding central generation and the need to reduce overall CO2 emissions. Countries such as the USA and Korea are leading demand in this area with, utilities specifically referencing SOFC technology as playing a key role in their distributed generation strategies.
• At present, the use of the existing low-pressure local natural gas distribution network allow fuel cell CHP to be competitive with centrally generated electricity, due to the low distribution cost of gaseous energy. In the longer term, complete decarbonisation of heat and power could be delivered through hydrogen-fuelled CHP systems.

Enabling sustainable growth of the world economy

• Value of the global and UK market: Recent estimations suggest that the global fuel cell market could be worth over $26bn in 2020 and over $180bn in 2050. The UK share of this market could be $1bn in 2020 rising to $19bn in 2050. In recent years the fuel cell sector has continued to grow, despite the global economic downturn, experiencing a 41% increase in shipments in 2009 relative to 2008.
• Creation of new “green collar” jobs: The fuel cell and hydrogen energy industry will create highly skilled, new jobs in the UK. Recent reports indicate that the global fuel cell industry could create as many as 700,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector by 2019, rising to over one million if installation, service and maintenance jobs are included.
• Growth of intellectual property within the UK: Strong research and development activity means that the UK was the third most successful country in the EU (behind Germany and France), and 6th in the world, at securing new fuel cell related patents from 2005 to 2009.
• Improved competitiveness in 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

Hydrogen energy and fuel cells offer an excellent contribution to the reliability of energy supplies. Fuel cells can be run on a wide and growing range of fuels, from natural gas to renewable hydrogen. They support the development of distributed power generation and, when combined with a hydrogen system, can provide a buffer for fluctuating renewable power. Hydrogen energy and fuel cells are part of an integrated and sustainable energy system for future generations. Without their deployment in the UK, the impacts of falling indigenous supplies are likely to be significantly greater.

Improving the management of renewables

• Addressing intermittency: The key to affordable and reliable energy supplies up to 2050, is the ability to store and use low cost renewable energy, generated at the whim of sun and wind, as and when required. Hydrogen energy 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 and meet demand for both stationary or motive power (e.g. FCEVs) (These will help not only to overcome grid constraints but also to control power output to prevent power generators dropping offline or overloading the grid infrastructure.).
• Flexible energy storage: Most energy storage methods are only applicable at modest size and timescales (up to several hours). Hydrogen energy storage systems, which produce hydrogen from excess renewables electricity, are unique in being able to cost-effectively accommodate huge storage capacities over long timescales (days to weeks).
• Reducing peak shaving: Hydrogen energy storage systems combined 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 tends to be based on fossil fuels.
• 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 generate 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 hydrogen energy storage system or 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 systems would be particularly attractive in a distributed generation scenario where power demand can fluctuate substantially.

References

1. 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).
2. 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.
3. http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/Statistics/climate_change/1214-stat-rel-uk-ghg-emissions-2009-final.pdf
4. Well-to-Wheels analysis of future automotive fuels and powertrains in the European context, Well-to-wheels Report version 2b, May 2006.
5. A portfolio of power-trains for Europe: a fact based analysis, McKinsey & Company, 2010
6. Cleantech Magazine Fuel Cell Special, Volume 4, Issue 5, September 2010
7. Ceres Power http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmenvaud/159/159we23.htm

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