Fuel Cells

Production and Distribution of Electricity and Heat

Fuel Cells are power generators that convert fuel directly into electricity, without combustion and driving engines. Fuel Cells are modular devices (individual cells can be assembled to create a ‘stack’ of any power capacity required), do not need discontinuous charging like a battery (as they operate directly on fuel), and are highly efficient over a wide range from part-load to full-load. In addition, the operating principle guarantees that pollutant emissions are extremely low, as combustion-based products (NOx, SOx, particulate matter) are avoided. The main end applications cover both Transport (as drivetrains in Fuel Cell electric vehicles and buses, in forklift trucks, as auxiliary power units (APU) on board trucks, marine and air vessels) and Energy fields (as portable power packs, as residential, commercial or large-scale combined heat and power (CHP) generators, as off-grid power generators). Shipments of Fuel Cell systems is increasing continuously, and the playing field of the Fuel Cell market is highly fertile, featuring multinationals such as Toyota, Honda, Vaillant, Posco Power, Panasonic and others, as well as specialized enterprises such as FuelCell Energy, Bloom Energy, SOLIDpower and ElectroPower Systems (the latter two are Italian), and many others. A constellation of material and component suppliers, and original equipment manufacturers (OEM) orbits around the key technology developers. In Italy, at least 36 enterprises are devoted to Fuel Cell development and deployment, and a further 18 are dedicated to cross-cutting activities in the field such as education, market analysis, certification.

26-03-2018

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