1. Introduction to SOFC
1.1. Introduction and Historical Evolution
SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cell), a high-temperature fuel cell with solid oxides as the electrolyte, is the third generation of fuel cells.
SOFC adopts an all-solid-state battery structure, a single battery consists of anode, cathode and solid oxide electrolyte, where the anode fuel oxidizes, where the cathodic oxidant is reduced, and both poles use a thin ceramic film as a catalyst. The whole consisting of a single or multiple modules and a gas reformer, heat exchanger, turbine, etc. is called an "SOFC system".
THE SOFC operating temperature is about 600 °C-1000 °C, with a wide range of fuel types, no need for precious metal catalysts, high power density advantages, mainly used in stationary power stations. Combined with high-quality waste heat, cogeneration can be achieved, and the energy utilization rate is up to 80%, making it a clean and efficient energy system.
In 1899, Nernst developed the prototype of SOFC using zirconia (ZrO2) as a conductor of oxygen ions. In 1937, Baur and Preis developed the world's first working SOFC on the basis of Nernst. Later, in the 1960s and 1970s, enterprises led by Weistinghouse officially began the commercialization of SOFC. At present, SOFC is mainly developed and promoted in the United States, the European Union, Japan and South Korea, while China started late and is still in the initial exploration stage.
1.2, working principle and technology
SOFC works as follows:
Fuel gases such as H2, CO, and CH4 are continuously introduced on the anode (i.e., fuel electrode) side of SOFC, and the anode surface with catalytic effect adsorbs the fuel gas and diffuses it to the interface between the anode and the electrolyte through the porous structure of the anode.
The cathode side (ie air pole) continues to pass into the oxidant (air), the cathode surface with a porous structure adsorbs oxygen, so that O2 gets electrons into O2-, under the action of the chemical potential, O2- enters the solid oxygen ion conductor acting as an electrolyte, due to the diffusion caused by the concentration gradient, and finally reaches the interface between the solid electrolyte and the anode, reacts with the fuel gas, and the lost electron returns to the cathode through the external circuit to form a current.
Schematic diagram of the SOFC principle when the fuel is hydrogen:
Reaction of the anode (fuel electrode): H2 + O2-H2O + 2e –
Cathode (air electrode) reaction: O2 + 2e- O2-
1.3. Technical categories
According to its different physical structures, SOFC can be roughly divided into two types: tubular and flat plate. Westinghouse successfully developed a tubular SOFC with high durability in the second half of the 1980s. Tubular SOFC technology is advanced, high durability, there is no problem of high-temperature sealing, but the output power is low and the cost is high, so it has not been widely used. The board SOFC is relatively low cost, and the output power density and performance are better, becoming the current mainstream commercial SOFC type.
1.4, advantages and disadvantages
In principle, fuel cells are not limited by the Carnot cycle, and compared with traditional heat engines, the energy conversion efficiency is high (up to 50% to 60%), and the advantages of environmental protection (NO x, SO 2 and low noise emissions) are high. Compared with other types of fuel cells, SOFC also has the following advantages:
Wide choice of fuel types: light hydrocarbons such as methanol, propane, butane, etc. can be reformed inside the battery at high temperatures, while other heavy hydrocarbons can be reformed outside the battery. Tolerance to impurities such as ammonia and chloride is also high.
Low degree of environmental pollution: there is no electrolyte loss problem, and the power generation process only produces water and carbon dioxide. Emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulfides and particulate matter are almost zero;
High energy conversion efficiency. The power generation efficiency can reach 45% to 60%, which is much higher than the traditional heat engine power generation technology; if the high humidity exhaust gas is combined with gas turbines, steam turbines, etc., the power generation efficiency can reach more than 80%.
The cost is relatively low: mainly because high-temperature reforming does not require a precious metal catalyst.
Modular construction. Designed and installed flexibly to meet a variety of needs.
Disadvantages mainly include high temperature affecting the battery material selection range and damage life, as well as the start speed is too slow (the most commonly used flat SOFC takes 1 hour), etc., which are currently being developed and conquered by various countries.
1.5. Categories of use
The most common application areas of SOFC are stationary power generation, mainly small and medium-sized SOFC products below the MW level, covering scenarios such as home combined heat and power generation systems (CHP), data center backup power stations, and industrial stationary power stations. Medium and large distributed generation, large-scale power supply and coal gasification combined fuel cell cycle ("IGFC") are the main research directions in the future.
In addition, SOFC has a small number of applications as a vehicle auxiliary power supply. In 2000, BMW, Delphi, and Renault took the lead in initiating cooperation in this field. Nissan has a more active layout in this field. In 2016, Nissan released the world's first fuel cell prototype powered by a SOFC powertrain. The car is based on nissan e-NV200 research and development, using enzyme biological fuel cell (e-BioFuel-Cell) technology, the use of SOFC power system to store bioethanol into electricity to power the car, the cruising range of more than 600 kilometers. The prototype is currently undergoing further field testing on Brazilian roads, and Nissan also plans to commercialize the ethanol SOFC electric vehicle in 2020.
However, compared with PEMFC, SOFC is not suitable for direct use as the main power source on the car end, mainly limited by the following points:
The start-up time is too long, and the high efficiency of SOFC is based on long standby, which does not allow repeated switching;
Ultra-high temperature work requires high material resistance and causes vibration;
The stack is large in size and compresses the space inside the vehicle;
Stack strength, high temperature drive brings vibration, high resistance requirements on the material
1.6. SOFC structure split
Anode material (air electrode)
There are mainly porous structural composites of nickel oxide and ceramics (basically similar to electrolyte materials), such as NiO-YSZ, NiO-ScSZ and so on.
Cathode material (air electrode)
It is a porous structure with antioxidant capacity that allows oxygen to pass smoothly into the electrolyte, including: LSM/La0.6Sr0.4MnO, LSC/La0.6Sr0.4CoO3, SSC/Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3 (SSC), LSCF/(La, Sr) (Co, Fe) O3 and other hybrid conductors (MIEC).
Electrolyte material
Most of them are solids with good oxygen ion conductivity and impermeable air. There are mainly YSZ (yttrium-stabilized zirconia), ScSZ (ZrO2 doped with Sc2O3), lanthanum gallium grate (LaGaO3) and other ceramic materials. At present, zirconium-based electrolyte film is the most widely used and most studied electrolyte material in SOFC. Zirconium-based electrolyte can maintain good chemical stability at high temperature, oxidation and reduction atmosphere, and has pure oxygen ion conductivity in the large oxygen partial pressure range, while having good mechanical strength, can be made into a dense membrane electrolyte, so it meets almost all the requirements of SOFC and becomes the first choice for the preparation of SOFC electrolyte materials.
2. Global SOFC main market
Research institute MarketsandMarkets expects the global SOFC market size to be $772 million in 2020 and reach $2.881 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 30.1%. The main drivers of the market are government subsidies and increasing R&D investment in FC projects, fuel diversity and demand for energy-efficient power generation, and increasingly stringent emission standards in Europe and North America. By type, the flat-panel SOFC market is the largest, reaching $374 million in 2017.
The United States is the largest SOFC market in the world, followed by Japan, South Korea and Europe. The development of SOFC in various countries and regions is inseparable from the guidance and strong support of the government, especially in the early introduction stage of commercialization, financial subsidies are particularly important. The industry-university-research cooperation mechanism of universities, governments and enterprise groups is also an important driving force for the development of SOFC.
2.1, the UNITED STATES SOFC market is a dominant one
From the perspective of the global market, the cumulative installed capacity of SOFC in the United States is in an absolute leading position, and among the fixed power plants with specifications above 200kW, SOFC has the largest amount of investment. Bloom Energy's installed capacity of SOFC in the U.S. is largely contributed by Bloom Energy: by 2020, the company has launched a total of 350MW of SOFC products, nearly half of which are in California.
2.1.1, the United States SOFC exploration history: from tubular to flat
The United States has been developing SOFC since 1977. As of 2005, the U.S. government had allocated $250 million to the development of tubular SOFCs.
Tubular SOFC was first introduced in the 1970s by Westinghouse Electric Corporation in the United States. In 1998, Siemens acquired its tubular SOFC technology through the acquisition of Westinghouse and founded Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation. The company conducted a 250kW battery test in early 2000. Since tubular SOFC did not meet the expected energy density and cost targets, Siemens completely withdrew from the SOFC business. Subsequently, the U.S. Department of Energy, through SECA, mainly supported the development of flat-panel SOFCs.
2.1.2 Government guidance and subsidies: from small to large
The U.S. Energy Agency (DOE) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) have led the development of the U.S. SOFC market. In 1999, with DOE funding, NETL led the establishment of the SOLID STATE Energy Conversion Alliance, which worked with the federal government, corporations, universities and laboratories to develop low-cost, modular, multi-fuel, widely used SOFC technology.
Initially, SECA's goal was to develop a 3-5kW, widely used low-power SOFC stack in order to achieve early mass production. However, the project objectives subsequently shifted to focus on the development of the IGFC. Fuel Cell Technology, a key participant in the SECA project, began developing 250kW and MW grades in the second half of 2013, using natural gas and biogas as fuel, and tested the 200 kW system in 2018, which will further demonstrate the MW level system in the future, with the long-term goal of building a utility 100 MW class IGFC and NGFC system.
The U.S. federal government has provided significant support for the project. After the start of the project, the funding increased year by year, reaching 30 million to 60 million US dollars in 2002-2011, halving the financial support between 2012 and 2014, and has remained at about 30 million US dollars since then.
In 2019, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Fossil Fuels (FE) issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for 5-25 kW small solid oxide fuel cell systems and hybrid energy systems, which will provide up to $30 million in federal funding for related research and projects. FOA aims to develop advanced technologies to improve small SOFC mixing systems using solid oxide water electrolysis (SOEC) to bring them to the commercial level of hydrogen production and power generation. The reason for small SOFCs is because DOE expects a lot of demand from data centers in the short term.
The SECA project is composed of industry teams, technical teams and the federal government, coordinating and cooperating with each other to jointly promote the development and commercialization of SOFC products:
1) The industry team solicits participants to cooperate and fund the project through the public bidding procedure, makes full use of industrial infrastructure to reduce the production cost of fuel cells, and uses government funds for research and development; when the industrial team finds the demand for product use and potential promotion obstacles, it can be transferred to the core technical team as a research theme to focus on overcoming.
2), the core technical team includes domestic universities, national laboratories and research-oriented organizations, the team goal is to solve SOFC in materials, service life and system and other aspects of the technical problems.
3) The Federal Government, as a supporter, is responsible for coordinating and promoting cooperation between the first two, establishing the priority of technological research, and providing necessary financial support.
Through the Fossil Energy Office of the Ministry of Energy, the SECA project team provides financial support to industry teams that meet the technical indicators, promoting the formation of competitive relationships between industry teams. At the same time, SECA also develops technologies that can be used by all industry groups through its core technical team to avoid duplication of effort
SECA has set phased goals for soFC development:
2005: Supplying the first generation of products to specific markets, and the early application scenarios include truck auxiliary power, recreational vehicles, and military fields.
2010: AS a commercial product, SOFC is gradually promoted to residential, commercial, and industrial cogeneration, auxiliary power in the transportation field, etc., achieving a manufacturing cost target of $400/kW.
2015: In the field of large-scale power generation, the MW class fuel cell pack was introduced, the efficiency was significantly improved (hybrid efficiency 60-70%), and the manufacturing cost target of 400 US dollars / kW was achieved.
2018-2021: Completion of MW-class fuel cell combined cycle power generation (IGFC) test power plants.
Long-term technical and cost objectives include:
Efficiency of 60% without carbon capture and storage
The empirical life expectancy is 40,000 hours or more
Recession rate less than 0.2% per 1000 hours
SoFC stack costs are reduced to less than $225/kW
SoFC system costs are reduced to less than $900/kW
At present, the United States has made phased achievements in the development of kW-level modules, and Bloom Energy's Energy Server product is currently said to achieve 60% efficiency. However, the development and cost targets of MW-level SOFC are still far from being met. In particular, there has been a delay in the cost of medium-sized (100kW-1MW) SOFC systems. Although SECA set a target of reducing system costs to $900/kW by 2020 in 2018, system costs remain high at $12,000/kW by 2020, while the previous $900/kW target has been postponed to 2025/2030.
2.1.3. Subsidies and delivery
In addition to the financial support of the federal government for the industry, the local state governments represented by California and Connecticut also give certain subsidies or tax breaks to the investment of SOFC to promote the launch of SOFC products. At present, about half of the 500MW large-scale stationary power plants in the United States are located in California (240MW).
Bloom Energy has revealed that because its products can enjoy federal and California tax breaks and local taxpayer subsidies for utilities, the final system acquisition cost can be reduced by up to about 80%.
At the local level, California's Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) is heavily subsidized. Since 2001, a total of 450 stationary fuel cell systems in California have received SGIP grants. It is worth noting that different SOFC fuels enjoy different degrees of subsidies, giving priority to supporting the promotion of biomass fuels.
Initially, 4,500 USD/kW subsidies were given to SOFC that use biomass as fuel, and the subsidy for SOFC batteries using natural gas was halved to 2,750 USD/kW. After that, the subsidy was reduced, and biomass-fueled batteries were subsidized at 1,200USD/kW, while batteries using natural gas fuel were only subsidized at 600USD/kW. From 2020 onwards, only stationary fuel cells that use 100% biomass fuel will receive subsidies.
2.1.4. Enterprise participation
In the United States, there are many companies that have R&D layouts for SOFC, including Acumentrics, Atrex, LG Fuel Cells System Inc., GE, Bloom Energy, FuelCell Energy and Ceramatec/OxEon. In addition to the more well-known Bloom Energy, FuelCell Energy is engaged in the development of large-scale SOFC, has completed testing of the 200kW SOFC system, and plans to upgrade it to utility level in the next decade. On the other hand, some companies have opted out of SOFC development: GE has advanced flat-panel SOFC technology but has chosen to reduce its SOFC business and shift its focus to basic research areas such as metal support structures for ceramic anodes; LG Fuel Cell Systems (LGFCS), formed by LG Corp's acquisition of Rolls Royce Fuel Cell Systems, closed its Ohio Fuel Cell in 2018 Prototyping Center, officially withdrew from SOFC research and development business. The instability of industry players has also hindered the development and research work of SOFC in the United States.
2.1.5 、Bloom Energy
Bloom Energy is a global leader in the commercialization of SOFC. The company's main product is Bloom Energy Server, which has been updated to the fifth generation, and the output power of a single machine has been increased from 100kW to 250kW, and the power generation efficiency can be as high as 65%, which is at the world's leading level.
Based in California, the company contributes 60 percent of the state's stationary fuel cell systems. By 2020, a total of 350MW of SOFC products have been launched, almost all of which have been put into the US market. Customers include Google, Walmart, FedEx, Yahoo, etc.
Bloom Energy's business model is a PPA energy purchase agreement, rather than directly selling batteries. Its fuel cell system is eligible for tax breaks and state subsidies. Between 2001 and 2015, Bloom Energy's customers received a cumulative $230 million in subsidies in California. Company information shows that the company's product costs have shown a downward trend in recent years, and are currently about 3300 US dollars / kW.
2.1.6 Summary
U.S. SOFC launch features:
Federal subsidies + local support
Laws and regulations: environmental and renewable energy targets
Frequent natural disasters and lack of reliable power grids: Backup power sources are used in a variety of scenarios
Major customers: Large public service providers
Domestic self-produced and self-sold
2.2, Japan: household distributed cogeneration system Ene-Farm
Japan mainly promotes PEFC (solid polymer fuel cell) and SOFC two technical routes around the household cogeneration system Eme-Farm. In terms of companies, Panasonic and Tokyo Gas develop PEFC together, and Aisin Seiki and Osaka Gas, Kyocera and Toyota Motor co-develop SOFC. Before the deadline, the Japanese ENE-FARM project has promoted more than 300,000 sets of SOFC home systems in Japan, ranking first in the world in terms of ownership, of which SOFC products account for about 40%. 、
The development of SOFC in Japan is roughly as follows:
In Japan, PEFC's ENE-FARM was first introduced in 2009, while SOFC has only been studied as a power generation solution for large-scale industrial sectors.
In 2005, Osaka Gas and Kyocera together released a small 1kW SOFC, marking the beginning of a home SOFC battery.
In 2011, Japan's New Energy Industry Technology Development Organization (NEDO) developed the world's first commercial SOFC combined heat and power system (ENE-FARM type S) in 2011. The system is composed of a power generation unit and a hot water heating unit using waste heat, with an output power of 700W, a power generation efficiency of 46.5%, a comprehensive energy utilization efficiency of up to 90.0%, and a temperature of 700 to 750 ° C during operation. As of December 2020, the cumulative sales of ENE-FARM of PEFC and SOFC exceeded 380,000 units, accounting for nearly half of SOFC.
In 2017, industrial SOFC fuel cells also began to enter the commercial stage.
2.2.1. The government takes the lead
Japan's SOFC development is mainly driven by NEDO. The main projects are the development of key technologies for SOFC systems and the empirical research of SOFC. NEDO has set a number of goals for the development of SOFC, including technologies with a soFC power generation efficiency of more than 65% (low heat) and a lifespan of 130,000 hours by 2024.
NEDO lists research related to SOFC in its "Joint R&D Project for Solving Joint Research and Development of Industry-Academia-Governments for the Rapid Expansion of Fuel Cells and Other Applications":
NEDO's future plans for SOFC cover household (kw class), commercial type (tens to 100 kW class), industrial type (MW class) and power plant type (tens and hundreds of MW class). The cost target for 2015 is 400,000 yen/kw, 400,000 yen/kw for household units from 2020 to 2030, 200,000 yen/kw for commercial units, and 150,000 yen/kw for industrial units.
2.2.2 Comparison of PEFC and SOFC
PEFC's heat recovery efficiency is high, flexible start and stop, and will stop power generation when the sink is full; SOFC is generally running continuously for 24 hours, which is more efficient than PEFC power generation and small device, and can be selected according to actual needs.
PEFC operating temperature of 70 ~ 90 ° C, in addition to being used as a household fuel cell is also used on FCV; SOFC once started, 24 hours non-stop, the operating temperature of 700-1000 ° C.
Different technical research topics: PEFC faces the problem of how to reduce the use of platinum, and SOFC faces the problem of how to reduce the operating temperature.
2.2.3 Subsidies and cost reductions
Since 2005, Japan has launched the household fuel cell combined heat and power generation (ENE-FARM) program to demonstrate the operation of ENE-FARM and government subsidies. NEDO launched the "ENE-FARM Support Project Subsidy for the Expansion of Fuel Cell Applications" for the period 2009-2020 with a total of 7.65 billion yen. According to the plan, ENE-FARM plans to achieve a cumulative installed capacity of 1.4 million household fuel cells in 2020 and 6.3 million sets in 2030, respectively, and the corresponding cost is expected to further reduce to about 500,000 yen per set (about 30,000 yuan per unit).
After 2009, under the continuous subsidies of the Japanese government and the vigorous promotion of Manufacturers such as Panasonic and Aisin Seiki, the commercial application stage of household fuel cell systems has been successfully opened. With the emergence of scale effects, the cost of ENE-FARM in 2018-2019 quickly fell to 1.2 million to 1.5 million yen /set (about 80,000 yuan / set), which was more than 80% lower than the cost in 2012, and the dependence on subsidies was gradually reduced. During this period, the Japanese government began to provide 1.4 million yen or half of the manufacturing cost subsidies to households with fuel cell systems in 2010, and the amount of government subsidies was reduced to 500,000-600,000 yen in 2015. NEDO's subsidies to ENE-FARM totaled 7.65 billion yen in 2009-2020.
On March 11, 2019, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (MIE) announced a budget proposal for the fiscal year of the "Subsidy for Operating Expenses to Support the Expansion of the Utilization of Fuel Cells such as ENE-FARM", subsidizing the installation costs of SOFC (solid oxide fuel cells) and PEMFC (polymer electrolyte fuel cells) fuel cell equipment and installation costs in the ENE-FARM project. NEDO sets a target price and a subsidy cap for the selling price of ENE-FARM, and gives corresponding subsidies according to the terminal price of the product. PEFC and SOFC system subsidies are different. The subsidy is divided into two parts: basic fixed subsidy and additional subsidy. In addition, additional subsidies will be provided for PEFC and SOFC that can support LPG, which can be used in cold areas, and can be used in environments such as apartments.
3. South Korea
South Korea has become a global leader in fuel cells for utility-scale power generation, with a total deployment of 370.7MW. The country's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) released the 8th electricity supply demand plan that expects fuel cell deployments in South Korea to further expand to about 600 MW by 2022.
At present, SoFC in South Korea is also mainly used in the field of public utilities, and the mainstream technologies on the market come from two companies, Ceres Power and Bloom Energy, which are introduced and promoted by Doosan and SK E&C respectively.
SK E&C
Bloom Energy signed an exclusive supply agreement with SK E&C back in 2017.
On September 2, 2020, Bloom Energy in the United States and SK Engineering construction Company (SK E&C) announced that they have cooperated to complete two new clean energy facilities using fuel cell technology in Gyeonggi Province, northwestern South Korea. One of them is a 19.8-megawatt fuel cell unit, the largest project Bloom Energy has built in South Korea to date, and this device alone can meet the electricity needs of about 43,000 households in the city. The second power station in Paju is an 8.1 MW fuel cell unit that can meet the electricity needs of about 18,000 households in the area. As of 2020, Bloom Energy has deployed 120MW of SOFC products in South Korea.
Doosan
In 2014, Doosan Group acquired ClearEdge Power in the United States, thus mastering PAFC technology and entering the fuel cell distributed generation market.
In July 2020, the Oyama Fuel Cell Power Plant, invested and constructed by Doosan Group, was officially put into operation. The plant is equipped with 114 Doosan M400 model PAFC fuel cells with a product power of 400 kW. The source of hydrogen from the power plant is industrial by-product hydrogen, and the total installed capacity of fuel cells has reached 50MW, which is currently the world's largest fuel cell power generation project, with a power generation capacity of up to 400,000 MWh, which can provide 24-hour electricity for about 160,000 nearby households.
On October 19, 2020, Doosan Group, which already has PAFC technology, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Ceres Power in the United Kingdom to lay out SOFC. The agreement consists of two main parts: (1) non-exclusive technology licensing; (2) investment of 72.4 billion won (about 420 million yuan) by the end of 2023 to build a 50MW SOFC production line, and mass production in 2024.
In March 2021, Doosan Fuel Cell signed an understanding agreement with Korea Offshore & Shipbuilding to jointly develop SOFC, with the goal of local production of batteries and stacks, and mass production of SOFC systems in Korea from 2024 onwards.
While introducing technology, the Korean government also supports the R&D and manufacturing of SOFC by local companies and institutions.
The South Korean government has supported Samsung and POSCO Power to develop household SOFC systems, and proposed targets such as 40% power generation efficiency, 50% thermal efficiency, 90,000 hours duration and 5,000 US dollars in 2030. In South Korea, floors over 1,000 square meters need to ensure that at least 30% of their energy consumption comes from renewable sources. The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Resources (MOTIE) will provide subsidies to residential and commercial users who use any of solar power, solar heating, fuel cells, geothermal and wind energy. Among them, the installation fee of subsidized fuel cells is 80% up to 9900 won/kW, and the subsidy for residential fuel cells is not more than 10,000 won/kW. The South Korean government also offers special natural gas for residential, commercial and utility fuel cells, which is about 6.5 percent lower than the normal price.
South Korea also has a number of local SOFC upstream and downstream specialized enterprises: KCERACELL is a RAW MATERIAL company for SOFC components, providing positive and negative electrodes, electrolytes and connecting plate materials. HNPOWER is a hydrogen energy and hydrogen fuel cell equipment company with SOFC stack technology, which claims to have the world's largest power density of 0.8w/cm2. Academic institutions involved in SOFC research and development include the South Korean Academy of Science and Technology, KEPRI, a research institute under the Korea Electric Power Corporation, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, the Korea Energy Research Institute, the Pohang Institute of Technology, and the Institute of Industrial Science and Technology.
4. European Union
Similar to Japan, the EU SOFC market is mainly used as micro combined heat and power system Micro-CHP system.
Since 2012, FCH-JU has launched the ene.field demonstration project in the European Union, which lasted for 5 years and supported a total of 1046 300W-5kW PEM and SOFC Micro-CHP systems. Due to the fact that there are more than a dozen participating manufacturers, some small enterprises have to withdraw from product research and development after lack of funds, making the progress and effect of the project less than expected. FCH-JU then launched the PACE project, introducing only four large companies with strength, Soidpower, Sidley, Fissmann and Bosch, and plans to deploy at least 2,500 units in 10 European countries in 2018.
Among them, the German market is developing rapidly. In 2016, the German federal government launched the Micro-CHP market activation program KfW 433, which provides a subsidy of 7050-28200 euros for the installation of the plant according to the size of the output power. The project's plan in 2017 is to support 1,500 units of 250W-1.5kW, with a long-term goal of subsidizing 75,000 units per year. At present, Germany has invested more than 50,000 sets of Micro-CHP, which is the largest number of Micro-CHP deliveries in Europe. In addition to Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium and other countries also have a layout in this field.
Since 1984, the EU/Commission has promoted technology development through a series of "Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development" (Framework Program or FP), which has so far had nine phases of FP1-FP9, each with different key research directions, including a number of SOFC-related development projects.
Under the coordination of the Eu Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Consortium (FCH-JU), the projects supported by the Framework Plan have greatly promoted the research and development of hydrogen energy and fuel cells in the EU and the transformation of research results.
Since FP5 (1998-2002), we have started research on the commercialization of auxiliary technology and R&D, including material research and development, system development, reliability improvement and cost reduction.
In the FP6 (2002-2006) phase, material improvements and degradation reductions continued, and small combined heat and power systems, MW-class systems, and mass production technologies were developed.
In the FP7 (2007-2013) phase, a number of SOFC-related programs have been initiated with assistance, including material and manufacturing process development, simplification and optimization of components and ancillary systems, and simulation testing and characterization studies, with the long-term goal of commercialization by 2020.
The representative companies of major SOFC Micro-CHP in Europe include Switzerland's Sulzer Hexis, Britain's Ceres Power, Italy's Solidpower, Denmark's TopsoeFuelCell, Germany's Boss Thermotechmology, Solid, etc. Among them, CeresPower technology is more advanced, and actively carry out global layout:
Ceres Power was founded in July 2004 with patented SteelCell technology derived from Prof. Brian Steele at Imperial College London.
In June 2018, Weichai Power (000388. SZ) bought a £40 million stake in Ceres Power (CWR.L) in the UK and jointly established a joint venture in China, where Ceres Power licensed the company's non-exclusive SteelCell patented technology.
In August 2018, the company and Bosch announced a strategic partnership to jointly develop solid-state fuel cells. Bosch acquires a 3.9% stake in Ceres Power.
In 2019, Ceres Power announced the successful development of the first zero-emission cogeneration system designed specifically for hydrogen fuel.
On 17 March 2021, Ceres Power raised an additional £181 million, of which Bosch, Doosan and Weichai subscribed for a total of £90 million.
Source | Orange Society Research Institute
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