Fuel cells and the world energy future

Abstract

Summary form only given, as follows. The Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is developing fuel cells for various applications in partnership with the private sector. Fuel cell technologies-solid oxide fuel cells, molten carbonate fuel cells, and polymer electrolyte fuel cells-are being developed for the distributed generation market shortly after 2003. Some of the evolving fuel cell systems are incorporating gas turbines in hybrid configurations. The combination of the gas turbine with the fuel cell promises to lower system costs and increase efficiency to enhance market penetration. Hybrid efforts are underway at Honeywell, Fuel Cell Energy and Siemens Westinghouse. In the long term, solid state fuel cell technology with stack costs under $100/kilowatt (kW) promises deeper and wider market penetration in a range of applications including a residential, auxiliary power, and the mature distributed generation markets. The Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA) with its vision for fuel cells in 2010 was recently formed to commercialize solid-state fuel cells and realize the full potential of the fuel cell technology. Ultimately, the SECA concept could lead to megawatt-size fuel cell systems for commercial and industrial applications and Vision 21 fuel cell turbine hybrid energy plants in 2015. Substantial new efforts in SECA are underway at Honeywell, McDermott and Delphi.