31st Annual Fuel Cell Seminar & Exhibition

October 15-19, 2007 San Antonio, Texas

The timing couldn’t have been better for this year’s Fuel Cell Seminar & Exhibition (FCS&E). With gasoline near $3.00 per gallon, utility companies warning customers about impending rate hikes this winter, and environmentalists beating the “global warming” drum louder than ever, the FCS&E celebrated its 31st year with 1,700 attendees and 144 exhibitors. Held at the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas – the heart of the U.S. oil industry – the show retained its reputation as the largest and most highly-regarded fuel cell conference in the world, uniting technical leaders, scientists, educators, researchers, developers, investors, students and manufacturers of today’s fuel cell products.

The theme of this year’s conference was “Fuel Cells: On the Path to Energy Independence.” Five highly regarded industry leaders provided their perspectives on some of the key pathways that fuel cells can take to contribute solutions for energy independence while also bringing about climate change.

The FCS&E offered attendees the opportunity to attend four technical sessions. The first covered high-temperature fuel cell research and development, while the second covered R&D for low-temperature fuel cells. The third session provided system demonstrations on the current state of technology in the transportation, stationary and portable power markets.

The conference also featured a fourth session track, new to this year’s program, entitled “Pathways to Commercialization.” This session was geared to helping manufacturers and developers learn how to make the leap from experimental development to marketing their products commercially. In addition, industry experts examined current public awareness and product advancements while discussing the government’s role in supporting future fuel cell implementations.

During the conference, attendees were able to hear from and interact with several of the top executives throughout the global fuel cell industry, including Bob Rose, U.S. Fuel Cell Council executive director. Rose provided a comprehensive update on the state of the fuel cell industry, including a benchmark on the technical and commercial progress in the U.S. compared with last year.

Joel Bluestein, senior vice president of ICF International, began the plenary session to speak about global climate change and how this issue is now the most significant driver and challenge of our time. He provided some insight into some of the policies that are evolving and what this might mean for fuel cells.

Jaimie Levin, marketing and communications director of AC Transit, discussed the successes they’ve had in deploying fuel cells in transit bus applications and how fuel cells may be utilized in the transportation sector.

Ben Yamagata, executive director of the Coal Utilization Research Council, provided perspectives and updates on trends in the coal power industry and the potential pathway for fuel cell activities via the coal power sector.

Ted Marston, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), provided an update on the renaissance of the nuclear power industry, including the plans for the next generation plants and linkages to hydrogen and fuel cells.

The key takeaway from this year’s conference is that interest in the fuel cell industry is growing rapidly in the academic and industrial communities, both here in the U.S. and in the rest of the world. Driving that interest is the fact that fuel cells deliver an exceptional combination of benefits to society. They are proven to be clean, safe and efficient alternative energy sources. In addition, they fuel the movement toward energy independence, both from fossil fuels and grid power.

All of this does not come without challenges – not the least of which is that fuel cells are still expensive to produce relative to other energy sources. Bringing that cost down is seen as the key to achieving mainstream commercialization. Yet there is a chicken-egg factor at work. An increase in production volume would help bring the price of fuel cells in line with other energy sources. Yet it is difficult to justify increased manufacturing volume while demand remains low. This is a conundrum the industry will need to address and solve in the next few years.

Mike Binder, president of FCS&E, stated, “Fuel cells are not the technology of the future – they are being used right now. However, we need to get the orders up to get better prices from the suppliers.”

Sam Logan, CEO of Logan Energy, seconded this notion by saying, “Fuel cell products are a fact, not a myth.” The truth is, anyone can buy a fuel cell via the Internet or a catalog right now.

Throughout the conference, speakers and attendees alike discussed the need for government interaction, as government involvement is imperative to this industry’s growth. Government officials need to get more involved in the purchase of fuel cells to help drive the aforementioned volume. They also need to support current and future R&D efforts to speed market adoption.

Throughout the FCS&E, attendees saw that the promise for fuel cells is extraordinary. They can power an extraordinary range of applications, from battery replacements in consumer electronics to backup and remote power generation to auxiliary power units to combined heat and power systems and high-efficiency base load electrical generation. They are also being developed for mobile power systems, specialty vehicles such as forklifts and airport equipment, and for any vehicle that carries people, including transit buses and the family car.

One exhibitor that created a lot of buzz at the FCS&E was Intelligent Energy. The company featured the ENV (shown on page 10), the world’s first purpose-designed fuel-cell powered motorbike. Powered by a 1kW Intelligent Energy fuel cell, the bike has a top speed of 50mph and range of 100 miles on a tank of compressed hydrogen.

Since the concept was first presented in the spring of 2005, the ENV has captured the imagination of a global audience of close to 300 million (growing by the day). And this is all before the official commercial launch.

Fuel cells are meeting customer needs today in high-value niche markets, but as is so often the case with emerging technologies, their high price limits their competitiveness in the larger marketplace. Capturing fuel cells’ benefits for our society will require active public-private partnerships in all stages of development and demonstration and in preparing markets through financial incentives, infrastructure investment and removal of regulatory and economic barriers.

As Bob Rose noted, “We are just now beginning to experience the exciting range of possibilities, and we need everyone’s support to push this industry forward. Everybody in the fuel cell industry – go buy a fuel cell. Spread the word. Show it to people. Take this message to the streets.”

The 32nd annual Fuel Cell Seminar and Exhibition will be held on October 27-31, 2008, in Phoenix, Arizona.