January 2009

Working on the use of biofuel in fuel cells is Prof. Plamen Atanassov at the University of New Mexico. See story.

around the industry

CHFCA Begins Operations

The Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association (CHFCA), a new national association for Canada's world-recognized hydrogen and fuel cell sector, begins its operations following the successful merger of the Canadian Hydrogen Association (CHA) and Hydrogen & Fuel Cells Canada (H2FCC). The CHFCA unites the members of these two other organizations to form an association that represents the majority of the stakeholders in Canada's hydrogen and fuel cell sector.

With offices in Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal, the CHFCA will expand the previous efforts of the CHA and H2FCC in the sector while providing greater benefits to its members such as workshops and conferences, promoting the sector internationally and advocating for continued and enhanced partnerships with Canadian governments.

John Tak, former president and CEO of H2FCC, has been appointed president and CEO of the CHFCA. Terry Kimmel, former president and CEO of the CHA, will assume the role of CHFCA's vice president. A new association website has been launched at www.chfca.ca

Sand Appointed Managing Director of Cell Impact

Per Sand has been appointed new managing director of Morphic subsidiary Cell Impact AB. He previously held the posts of vice president and head of sales and succeeds Martin Valfridsson, who has been appointed president and CEO of Morphic Technologies AB.

Sand has worked at Cell Impact since March 2006, helping to establish it as one of the leading suppliers to the fuel cell industry. The Swedish company has now concluded around 170 partnership agreements with customers from different sectors in respect to Cell Impact's method for component processing using high-speed technology known as adiabatic softening.

Previously head of sales at Bulten Stainless Industry, Sand has had extensive experience from working in exports of advanced components to Asia, one of Cell Impact's principal markets.

H2scan Products Receive UL Certification

H2scan Corp. has received a certificate of compliance from Underwriters Laboratories Inc. for its HY ALERTA™ 500 & 600 Area Hydrogen Sensors and the HY-OPTIMA™ 700 Series In-Line Process Hydrogen Monitors. Obtaining these certifications is an extremely important milestone for H2scan's products and will further expand sales opportunities.

Underwriters Laboratories Inc. is an independent product safety certification organization that has been testing products and writing standards for safety for over a century.

Jadoo Names Senior Fuel Cell Scientist

Jadoo Power Systems of Folsom, California reports that Allison Fisher, Ph.D. has been named the company's senior fuel systems scientist. Fisher will further the development of new fuels at Jadoo Power, one of the key paths the company is taking to advance their fuel cell technologies.

Fisher's broad technical background applies to the design, synthesis, and characterization of materials for PEM fuel cells, photovoltaics, chemical sensors, and molecular electronics. She spent the last ten years in development of PEM fuel cell architectures, MEA, and fuel advancements. Prior to joining Jadoo Power, Fisher developed fuel cell stacks for portable power systems, including micron-scale 3D PEM fuel cell MEA architectures consisting of six stacks of 600 cell arrays in the space of 1cm2 for cell phone applications.

A National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow at The University of Chicago, she holds a Ph.D in organic chemistry from the University of Colorado . TOP

Plug Power To Supply Fuel Cell Power Units

Plug Power Inc. of Latham, New York reports that Central Grocers Inc. has purchased 220 GenDrive™ fuel cell units to power the entire lift truck fleet at their new distribution center. The center is currently under construction in Joliet, Illinois, and is expected to be operational by the end of the first quarter of this year.

Central Grocers chose the hydrogen fuel cell power units, rather than traditional lead-acid batteries, for a new fleet of Yale lift trucks. Powering the entire lift truck fleet with GenDrive will eliminate the need to invest in a battery charging and changing infrastructure, reducing operational costs and opening up valuable floor space for the distribution business.

VIASPACE Delivers Cartridges to CMR Fuel Cells

VIASPACE Inc. of Pasadena, California reports that its Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Corp. subsidiary has delivered fuel cartridges, and device side valves to CMR Fuel Cells of the United Kingdom. The cartridges are for CMR's stand-alone, hybrid DMFC charger. CMR is a specialist developer of high power density fuel cell stacks and systems for portable electronics applications and is developing a 25W fuel cell power supply unit that is hybridized with a battery.

The cartridge contains the methanol fuel and a valve to ensure that the fuel remains in the cartridge until the cartridge mates with the device's side valve which is attached to the fuel cell itself. Both the cartridge and the valves are designed to meet current and emerging IEC standards for safety.

New Leader, Business Alignment at UTC Power

J. Michael McQuade, UTC Power's senior vice president for science and technology, took over the duties of president on January 1, succeeding Jan van Dokkum, who will stay on to advise the company during the first quarter of 2009. McQuade, 53, will immediately oversee a major realignment of UTC Power, which remains primarily a research operation, generating little revenue or profits by UTC standards.

McQuade joined UTC in 2006, after working for 3M and Eastman Kodak. He has a doctorate in physics from Carnegie Mellon University.

Hashemi Becomes SFC Vice President/Sales

Mark Hashemi has been named vice president/sales, a new position at SFC Smart Fuel Cell AG. He will be responsible for global sales for the EFOY and SFC fuel cell products and solutions in the SFC business units leisure (motor homes, boats, cabins), industry (professional off-grid applications) and mobility (light electric vehicles).

Hashemi has more than 25 years of management experience in technology companies in the U.S. and in Europe. Most recently, he served as corporate senior vice president of Oerlikon Corp. AG and managing director of Oerlikon Germany Holding GmbH. He has a bachelor of science degree in electrical and electronics engineering from California State University, Sacaramento, California. TOP

Hydrogenics Delivers Electrolyzers to Hychico

Hydrogenics Corp. of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, a leading designer and manufacturer of hydrogen electrolyzers and fuel cell systems, has opened a wind-hydrogen station using HyStat-60 hydrogen systems operated by Hychico of Agentina. The Hydrogenics' electrolyzers will use local wind farm power to provide 120Nm3/h of hydrogen for energy applications and 60Nm3/h of oxygen for industrial applications in the area, an attractive alternative to long-distance trucked gases.

"Hydrogen will play a critical role in capturing the power of renewable resources and creating viable energy systems that are cost effective, sustainable, and environmentally friendly," says Daryl Wilson, president and CEO of Hydrogenics. "Stored hydrogen does not dissipate energy over time and incremental cost of storage is relatively low. Hydrogen storage is highly scaleable and ideal for storing large amounts of energy for long periods of time."

Helbio Receives Order for Bio-Ethanol System

Helbio S.A. of Patras, Greece, has received an order from the University of Milano for its GH2-500 Energy System, a bio-ethanol fuel cell power system designed for remote locations. Italian investors subcontracted the university to evaluate the system, and have agreed to discuss volume deliveries and/or license cooperation.

The GH2-5000 Energy System delivers 5kW electrical energy and 5kW thermal energy. It consists of a fuel processor which converts bio-ethanol and water into a hydrogen rich stream suitable for a PEM fuel cell. Reformation of ethanol is carried out in the steam-reforming mode within a reactor/catalyst system. Elimination of CO is achieved by two water gas shift reactors and a methanation reactor. The effluent contains less than 20ppm CO. The fuel processor and the fuel cell are highly integrated and controlled via a common scheme, and have a 90% overall operating efficiency. The fuel cell is manufactured by Exergy Fuel Cells of Bologna, Italy.

New Generation Fuel Cell Boilers

Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd (CFCL) of Australia has recently produced its first fully integrated new generation boiler unit in preparation for European product deployment in 2009, having successfully operated semi-integrated units for some time. The unit has been completed on time and is currently operating at CFCL's facilities in Melbourne. In 2009 CFCL will ship Gennex fuel cell modules to its European appliance partners for integration into new generation boiler units

which produce highly efficient power as well as heat for homes.

CFCL has identified a potential revenue opportunity of c.€1 billion p.a. from sales of micro CHP units in its initial target markets of the U.K., Germany, Holland, France and Japan. This is achievable on market penetration assumptions of only 5%.

CFCL has received one forward volume order from Nuon, for 50,000 units based on agreed targets, and is in discussions to obtain further orders from other customers.

UC San Diego Adds to Fuel Cell Project

The University of California, San Diego plans to store power produced at night from a planned 2.8MW green fuel cell and use the energy during peak-demand hours the following day when electricity rates are highest. Implementation of the advanced energy storage system at the university, one of the greenest in the nation, was made possible by the November 21 approval by the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) of a measure designed to lower peak demands on the state's electrical power grid.

Under the CPUC order, the system would be eligible for $3.4 million in financial incentives. A formula of incentives encourages non-utility operators of fuel cells and small wind turbines of 5MW or less to couple those systems to energy storage technologies.

UC San Diego's fuel cell system from FuelCell Energy of Danbury, Connecticut, will be installed on campus by late 2009. Once in operation, the electrical output of the fuel cell will be used 20 hours a day to power the campus's grid, and four hours a day to charge batteries, compress air, or another energy-storage technology.