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BACKUP POWER GenCell’s white paper, The big deal with fuel cells, explains that there are five primary types of fuel cells: • Alkaline fuel cells (low temperature) • Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (low temperature) • Phosphoric acid fuel cells (medium temperature) • Molten carbonate fuel cells (high temperature) • Solid oxide fuel cells (high temperature) Each type of fuel cell has its own inherent strengths and weaknesses that make them more suitable for specific markets and applications. Fuel cell technology is already being used to generate power at leading companies such as Apple, Verizon and Coca-Cola. In fact, more than 65,000 fuel cells, totalling over 300MW, were shipped worldwide in 2016 (E4tech, The Fuel Cell Industry Review 2016).
Lovely, bubbly… Fuel cell technology is gaining in popularity in mission critical sectors, providing backup power and clean energy in a diverse range of industries
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enCell CEO Rami Reshef believes that backup power solutions, using fuel cell technology, could overcome the “weaknesses of other clean technologies” such as solar and wind, while also addressing issues with legacy solutions based on batteries and diesel generators. In the future, hydrogen could be leveraged as one of the critical sources for generating power, fuelling mass transit, powering hospitals, telecom towers, mission-critical systems, and more. A fuel cell is an electrochemical energy conversion device that produces electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen into water. Like batteries, fuel cells convert potential chemical energy into electrical energy and generate heat as a by-product. However, as the chemical energy is stored inside batteries, rather than generated, they can only operate for a limited duration until they need to be discarded or recharged. Fuel cells, on the other hand, can continuously generate electricity as long as they are supplied with fuel (hydrogen) and an oxidant. MCP October 2017
Fuelled by hydrogen, the GenCell G5 long-duration UPS already provides backup power for telecom, healthcare and niche industrial markets. Now the technology is finding its way into the Champagne industry; GenCell recently signed a distributor agreement with Gallorema, a specialist equipment supplier to France’s finest producers. Gallorema will distribute the GenCell G5 long-duration UPS to its customers to provide backup power to Champagne and wine production lines, as well as regulating voltage to key production equipment. GenCell’s fuel cell power solutions will provide 5kW of auxiliary power to ensure uninterrupted wine production, from the harvest receiving hopper to the bottle. The fuel cell technology can be easily installed in cellars as it produces energy with no emissions, noise or vibrations As a leading supplier for the Champagne industry, Gallorema’s CEO, Christophe Labruyère, works regularly with producers and understands their business challenges:
“Many wine producers suffer from an inconsistent supply of electricity, with voltage spikes or even power losses that reset production equipment or stop production completely,” says Labruyère. “These incidents reduce productivity and may even cause significant financial losses. “The GenCell solution will mitigate power issues and assist Champagne and wine producers in avoiding production equipment service costs, as well as the high material costs of spoiled vintages and the even higher costs of lost future revenue.”
The GenCell solution will mitigate power issues and assist Champagne and wine producers in avoiding production equipment service costs
Data centre sector One area where fuel cells are gaining traction is in the data centre sector. Equinix recently announced its decision to install the largest deployment of fuel cells for the colocation data centre industry. The global interconnection and data centre company signed a 15-year Power Purchase Agreement with a subsidiary of Southern Company for the supply of Bloom Energy fuel cells, to be installed at 12 data centres in the US. Bloom Energy fuel cells use a proprietary solid oxide technology to generate electricity through a clean electrochemical process using air and fuel and resulting in only water and a small amount of carbon dioxide as by-products. Over the lifetime of the project, Equinix estimates it will avoid 660,000 tons of carbon emissions and save 87 billion gallons of water that would have been used by natural gas or coal-fired utility generation. As the demand for backup power and off-grid power solutions increases in the future, fuel cells could offer a significant contribution, helping mission critical sectors ensure both resilience and sustainability. l missioncriticalpower.uk