Development, Manufacturing and Deployment of SOFC-Based Products at SOLIDpower

Abstract

SOLIDpower provides efficient energy solutions based on its proprietary planar SOFC technology. The first commercial product of the company is the EnGen™-2500. The company deploys the CE certified 2.5 kW combined heat and power generator within the FCH-JU project ene.field and with selected European partners. The EnGen™-2500 uses natural gas for combined heat and power generation (CHP) at high electrical and total efficiencies. The product targets multi-family houses and commercial applications. More than 60 units are to be installed within 2015 and field test results will be presented. SOLIDpower operates a first “to scale” production cell in Northern Italy with a production capacity of 2MW/yr. Based on an ordering volume of 50 MW, the stack and balance of stack components match target market requirements, allowing selling and operating systems at grid parity prices. Besides the micro-CHP generator deployment, SOFCpower also pursues strategic development activities to demonstrate biogas and waste-to-energy (WTE) applications on larger than 2.5 kW scale. SOLIDpower progressed on the technological level for SO Electrolysis. Improved electrode materials and production technology open the door for lifetime for electrolysers stacks beyond 16’000 hrs. SOLIDpower expects that SOFC stack cost reductions stemming from SOFC volume manufacturing can be transferred to a large extend also to SOE stacks. In this field, SOLIDpower intends to work with integration partners on the systems level. The paper provides an update of the stack and system development, including operational results of SOFC-based micro-CHP. SOLIDpower comprises the companies SOLIDpower SpA Italy, SOLIDpower SA Switzerland and SOLIDpower GmbH Germany and unites under its new name the companies formerly known as “SOFCpower SpA” and “HTceramix SA”.