Heat and Energy Efficiency News
DOE offers $74m for fuel cell research and development
Fuel cells have a range of potential uses, including in transport like this GM vehicle in use in Hawaii
Fuel cells have a range of potential uses, including in transport like this GM vehicle in use in Hawaii
The US Department of Energy is to provide $74 million for projects developing fuel cell technology to provide cleaner, more efficient energy.
Officials said yesterday that applications are now being invited for funds to support research and development for fuel cells to be used for either stationary installations or transport.
Within the funding program, $65 million is available over three years for work on fuel cell components – for example, catalysts and membrane electrode assemblies – in order to cut costs and improve performance.
A further $9 million will be available for independent assessment of the costs of fuel cell technologies, to analyze the viability of different technologies and help guide future fuel cell and hydrogen storage development.
“The investments we’re making today will help advance fuel cell technology in the United States,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu yesterday. “This is part of a broad effort to create American jobs, reduce carbon pollution and help ensure the U.S. stays competitive in the growing clean energy economy.”
Fuel cells
Fuel cells are electro-chemical engines that generate electricity from hydrogen, although they can also make use of the hydrogen within fuels like methane and methanol, with water as the main by-product.
As well as a variety of potential uses in stationary applications – as a back-up power supply for buildings, as a smart grid system to help regulate intermittent supplies of renewable energy – as well as in vehicles including commercial forklifts, buses and automobiles.
The DOE said it will be funding research and development initiatives related to fuel cell system balance-of-plant components, fuel processors, and fuel cell stack components such as catalysts and membranes, as well as innovative concepts for both low and high temperature systems to help meet commercial viability targets in terms of cost and performance.
Applicants will likely include teams of university, industry and national laboratory participants, it said, adding that applications must be in by March 3, 2011, for the $65 million research and development portion, while applications for the $9 million cost analysis work must be in by February 18, 2011.
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