Energy Dept Funding Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cost Models

(Energy.gov)

The U.S. Department of Energy is funding four projects to better determine the costs of making fuel cells and hydrogen storage systems. The awards, totaling $7 million over five years, will cover studies to provide data that help the department focus future research and development funding on fuel cell components and manufacturing processes.

The Energy Department says the projects will generate life-cycle cost analyses of existing and proposed fuel cell systems for transportation and stationary power. The studies will analyze various system sizes, manufacturing volumes, and applications, including transportation, backup power, and industrial equipment such as forklifts.  Cost analyses are expected to cover factors such as system design, manufacturing process and equipment, labor and energy costs, and prices for materials.

Directed Technologies Inc., a technology consulting firm in Arlington, Virginia, received awards for two of the projects worth $3 million. One project will examine will analyze and estimate the cost of transportation fuel cell systems for use in vehicles, including light-duty vehicles and buses. The second project will analyze costs of capital equipment, raw materials, labor, and energy  for hydrogen storage. The analyses are expected to provide rigorous annual cost estimates of fuel cell power or hydrogen storage systems that help industry optimize the design of components and manufacturing processes at various rates of production.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California received an award of nearly $2 million to develop total cost models for low- and high-temperature stationary fuel cell systems up to 250 kilowatts. This project is expected to offer projections of current system costs and assess manufacturing technologies, increases in production volume, and design changes on system and life-cycle costs for several near-term and emerging fuel cell markets.

Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio is the recipient of a $2 million award for cost assessments for smaller, stationary fuel cell applications up to 25 kW, including those in forklifts, backup power units, primary power, and combined heat and power systems. The project is also expected to provide cost analyses of large-scale fuel cell applications — 100 to 250 kW — such as auxiliary power, primary power, and large-scale combined heat and power systems.

Read more:

• Fuel Cell Powered Forklifts Built for Demo Project
• New Process Devised For Efficient Hydrogen Production

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