Abstract
SOFC power unit system development worldwide is largely
concentrated on small systems from 1 to 5 kW. As one
exception to this the Wärtsilä Corporation fuel cell
group, together with Haldor Topsoe Fuel Cells AS, is
aiming at 1-5 MW units. The road map to the larger units
includes smaller units from 50 kW to 250 kW as modules
for the large plants. In order to support this work VTT
is executing a national project on SOFC development and
tries to involve European and international cooperation
in the development work.
In Europe the emphasise of publicly supported SOFC
research is on materials and cells. However the Balance
of Plant (BOP) is at least two thirds of the system cost.
Therefore the system development will be crucial for the
economical success of SOFC systems. Contrary to belief
many of the components require materials research and
completely new designs in order to enable the required
cost and performance targets. This has been realized by
the SECA program but less so in the European programmes.
The Finnish national programme involves several
components on both national and international level. The
FINSOFC project is a national project partly funded by
The National Technology Agency (Tekes), together with VTT
and the industry. FINSOFC includes such tasks as system
development including components like reformers for
natural gas and low sulphur diesel, catalytic after
burners, power electronics, automation system and heat
exchangers and so on. It also include development of
system control strategies based on a combination of
dynamic system modelling in cooperation with Research
Center Jülich (FZJ) and experimental work with a 5 kW
system test facility.
In addition to its own system development work Wärtsilä
Corporation is involved in the development of modelling
tools in the FINSOFC project. Other Finnish companies are
involved in materials and component development. FINSOFC
together with power companies is also looking at grid
connection issues. VTT and some Finnish companies are
also looking at fuel issues, including gasification of
biomass and reforming of bio diesel and low sulphur
diesel.
The European cooperation, both bilateral and EU-projects
SOFCnet and Real-SOFC are crucial in providing cells and
stacks. Real-SOFC will provide the next generation of
stacks which will support all the involved system
developers. In the SOFCnet project an effort is made to
jointly make recommendations for research and development
of systems and BOP components. In additional the
cooperation involves modelling and marketing related
studies.
The public international cooperation is mainly undertaken
trough the IEA Advanced Fuel Cells implementation
agreement, and involves mainly information change in the
area of SOFC and systems. In the Annex on Stationary
Applications an effort is made to jointly agree on
specifications and requirements for BOP components.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 1st European Fuel Cell Technology and Applications Conference, EFC2005 |
| Subtitle of host publication | Book of Abstracts |
| Publisher | American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-0-7918-4209-6 |
| Publication status | Published - 2005 |
| MoE publication type | Not Eligible |
| Event | 1st European Fuel Cell Technology and Applications Conference - Rome, Italy Duration: 14 Dec 2005 → 16 Dec 2005 Conference number: 1 |
Conference
| Conference | 1st European Fuel Cell Technology and Applications Conference |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | EFC |
| Country/Territory | Italy |
| City | Rome |
| Period | 14/12/05 → 16/12/05 |
Keywords
- SOFC
