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A Fuel Cell Today Analyst View, by Marge Ryan, republished courtesy of Fuel Cell Today

 

 

Any standpoint on where the global energy supply is headed is sure to elicit heated debate. Without getting into this, it is relatively uncontroversial to say that the ‘era of easy energy’ is drawing to a close and we are likely to feel the pinch sooner rather than later, probably before 2050 rather than after it. Whether the pinch will be delivered by climate change, spiralling global energy demand, peak oil or a combination of these factors is, like the timing, an open question.

 

Published in: 2011 - A Review of Cleantech Equity Deals, January 2012

In the fuel cell sector, 2011 was a story of large and small. Large fundraising deals included US$150 million for Bloom Energy at a valuation of US$2.7 billion, and US$74 million for ClearEdge. Both are in the business of large scale stationary fuel cells, which is one of the sub-sectors of the hydrogen and fuel cell industry that is gaining traction.

Meanwhile, the micro fuel cell industry is also securing a market niche for itself. Micro fuel cell developers raising funds in 2011 included myFC, which raised US$6.7 million for the development of its PowerTrekk fuel cell mobile phone charger, while Lilliputian, whose investors include Intel, raised US$11.1 million for micro fuel cells.

Other notable deals included the funding round by ACAL Energy in the UK, which has developed a platinum-free catholyte fuel cell system with both stationary and automotive applications.

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A Fuel Cell Today Analyst View, by Dan Carter, republished courtesy of Fuel Cell Today

Today (18 January 2012) saw the launch of UKH2Mobility at the Royal Society in London. The project brings together thirteen industry participants with three UK Government departments (listed below) and the European Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU). All participants have signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreeing to share knowledge and expertise towards the shared goals.

UKH2Mobility is being facilitated by McKinsey & Co., which has prior experience of the European fuel cell industry from its involvement authoring the European powertrain study, and in its involvement in the German H2Mobility project. The project will draw from these previous studies where possible, but will include up to date, UK-specific information. All commercially sensitive data used in the report will be held by McKinsey and not made available for publishing.

A Fuel Cell Today Analyst View, by Joe Stevenson, republished courtesy of Fuel Cell Today

 

In the two analyst views in December, we encouraged you to take an interest in the call from the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust in the UK for an efficient, low-carbon CHP solution for its 167 buildings. We reported the announcement of this initiative on 2nd December 2011. We view this as a particularly important initiative because it shows a way to overcome many of the barriers to the commercialisation of stationary fuel cells.

A Fuel Cell Today Analyst View, by Dan Carter, republished courtesy of Fuel Cell Today

China is the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, and has well-publicised problems with pollution and air quality. Negative headlines like this can be misleading though as the country’s per capita emissions are significantly less than other industrialised nations and China is one of the biggest manufacturers of renewable energy in the world. It also has extensive installed capacity of renewable energy, and its research centres are heavily focused on developing domestic renewables, but where do fuel cells fit into this picture? I recently spent two weeks travelling in China, visiting research centres and fuel cell companies to gather data for a forthcoming report and I’d like to give you a taste of my findings here.

A Fuel Cell Today Analyst View, by Jonathan Wing, republished courtesy of Fuel Cell Today

As smart  grid and hydrogen infrastructure technologies advance, stakeholders are looking to move beyond conceptualisation to real world trials and demonstrations. Islands represent the perfect platforms for such efforts as they offer a defined project scope: the boundaries of the island and the population are set, the locations for and distances between power generation and distribution sites are known,  and  the necessary range of vehicles can easily be determined. Generally an island’s energy is more expensive, infrastructure costs higher and grid balancing more difficult so there is often demand from the islanders for new energy solutions too. As such islands can be more accessible for the integration of new technologies and they make for grander, and more manageable, showcases than the conversion of a county, for example, to a new technology.