45 / 84
type of fuel cell. Alkaline fuel cells
are extremely reliable and highly
efficient, in fact the most energy
efficient of all fuel cell technologies.
In addition, they are highly resilient
to extreme temperatures, humidity
and air salinity.
This makes them an ideal fuel cell
technology for providing green
backup energy in the event of a
power failure. However, in the future,
the technology has even greater
potential for additional usages
beyond back-up applications.
In what scenario might
fuel cells be used outside
of a back-up application?
In short, continuous power.
When the grid isn’t available, options
for providing continuous power is
currently limited to diesel generators
and batteries. Historically, fuel cells
have mainly been used for back-up
applications, as there hasn’t been
a solution available to match the
reliability and running costs of these
alternative power sources. But, fuel
cell technology is catching up.
And should it be possible to provide
this in the future, there is a clear
appetite for fuel cell technology use
for continuous power. Why? To realize
the same benefits as provided in
back-up applications: fuel cells emit
no greenhouse gases, they require
very little maintenance and don’t
require regular recharging, they
are near silent, vibration and odor
free, can be operated in extreme
temperatures and have water and
heat as their only by-product.
Not only does this technology
represent an opportunity to hugely
reduce our greenhouse gas emissions,
but it could also be used to achieve an
enormous amount of social good too.
In what way could fuel
cells for continuous power
support social benefits?
For example, imagine a situation
where fuel cells are sent out with first
responder units to natural disasters
such as earthquakes or tsunamis.
They could instantly provide lifesaving
power for the emergency services,
critical power for local or pop-up
medical facilities, schools or even
light and heat for refugee camps.
What’s more, this same highly
reliable, low maintenance based fuel
cell technology could be installed in
any off grid remote location around
the world. For some, it would
provide life changing electricity to
communities for the first time, or
for others, simply make continuous
power more reliable, accessible and
easier to maintain.
It also has the potential to significantly
boost communications in these regions
too. In remote areas with extreme
weather, such as in Brazil with its high
humidity or Canada with its extreme
cold, telecom providers often struggle
to provide communities with a reliable
and continuous telecom network. In
the future, fuel cells could bridge this
gap and revolutionize telecom tower
reliability.
In short, we see alkaline fuel cells
as becoming a mainstream fuel cell
technology.
How far away is this
‘mainstream’ fuel cell
technology?
It’s difficult to say, but I estimate
that we’re likely to see this kind of
technology enter the market within
the next 12-24 months – initially
offering all the benefits of fuel cells
and later delivering economies of
scale that will give it a price point
to replace diesel generators for
mainstream energy.
However, we should not let this
detract from what’s available today,
as there are substantial opportunities
to be enjoyed from the maturing fuel
cell markets.
What are the barriers
to success in fuel cell
adoption in the short
term?
To our minds, simple education.
There’s a lot of misinformation out
there surrounding modern fuel cell
technology, and when talking to
prospects, our first job is often to
correct what they think they know.
We do that by explaining what we and
others have done to overcome previous
technology limitations to make modern
fuel cells one of the cleanest, most
reliable, robust, and highly efficient
power sources available.
We then show them how it’s being
adopted by many international
market leading businesses, who all
go through their own comprehensive
due diligence processes to approve
the use of fuel cells within their
businesses.
Our second job is to talk to them
about hydrogen in general, as many
businesses are not familiar with
it. We explain that it’s the lightest
and most abundant element in
the universe, considered the most
environmentally friendly fuel and is
as safe or even safer than gasoline or
natural gas (methane). In addition,
we also educate them about sourcing
hydrogen and compare its costs to
other energy alternatives such as
solar, wind, batteries and diesel.
No doubt this is common to all low
temperature fuel cell manufacturers
out there. The good news is, that
the fuel cell business case is so
compelling that after a little time
invested to understand it, especially
in leading businesses where the costs
of downtime run into the millions,
the cost of a fuel cell to minimize
their impact becomes a very obvious
and sensible decision.
New-Tech Magazine Europe l 45