Hydrogen fuel cell development projects receive £9m boost
Friday 28 August 2009
Energy technology companies are set to receive £9 million of funding for projects involving fuel cells and hydrogen technologies, it was announced today (August 28).
We expect the technologies that will be developed to help us make real progress towards market adoption
The government sponsored Technology Strategy Board (TSB) is to invest the money, along with a further £500,000 from government agency the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), into nine hydrogen fuel cell projects.
The projects will look to tackle the challenges related to hydrogen generation, storage and utilisation as part of the TSB's plan to accelerate the adoption of hydrogen energy in the UK and develop a sustainable hydrogen supply.
The funding is specifically targeted lowering the costs of developing fuel cells for stationary, transport and portable power markets, while improving reliability, durability and performance levels of low, intermediate and high temperature systems.
Projects
One of the beneficiaries of the money is a project led by Loughborough-based Intelligent Energy, which is looking to develop enhanced fuel cell systems for commercial and passenger vehicles. Later this year, work is scheduled to start with the aim of reducing the cost and enhancing the performance and longevity of the company's fuel cell engines, which it currently supplies to Peugeot-Citroën and Fuel Cell Taxi vehicles.
Another, led by ACAL Energy, seeks to build and install what the TSB call "the world's first" fuel cell system using low cost platinum free cathode technology. The three-year project will research, build and test a practical an inexpensive 1kW remote environmental monitoring system, using platinum-free cathode technology.
Other projects to be funded include:
- Novel Processes and Designs for High Volume membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) Manufacture, led by Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells Ltd, with HumiSeal Europe Ltd, Marlin Precision Manufacturing Ltd, University of Bradford.
- Component Development for Improved MEA and Stack Stability, led by Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells Ltd, with Calcarb Limited, Intelligent Energy Ltd, Loughborough University, NPL Management Ltd, Technical Fibre Products Ltd, University of Birmingham.
- Innovative Air Cooled Fuel Cell Power Systems for MHE, lead by Intelligent Energy Ltd, with other partners to be announced.
- High Performance Low Temperature Direct Ethanol Fuel Cells, with Johnson Matthey plc, Queen's University Belfast.
Details on the three other projects have not yet been released.
Investment
The TSB focuses on energy generation and supply and works with the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the research councils, the Energy Technologies Institute (ET) and the Carbon Trust to ensure that programmes in this area are complementary.
Today's announcement is the second investment by the TSB in the development of new technology for the energy generation and supply sector following July's announcement of nearly £5 million toward projects advancing hydrocarbon recovery and improving the environmental performance of oil and gas operations.
Filomena La Porta, lead technologist at the TSB, said: "Fuel cells and hydrogen technologies are priority areas for our investment as new technologies can contribute to tackling the UK and EU climate change targets and security of energy supply challenges, while at the same time they can provide significant market opportunities for British companies. We expect the technologies that will be developed to help us make real progress towards market adoption."
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