Fuel Cell Vehicles

Fuel cell vehicles are being launched all over the world. In less than 10 years, they have reached the stage of operating prototypes and demonstration models. Nearly 20 companies are developing lightduty fuel cell vehicles and components. The first application addressed in this sector was buses, because they are operated in fleets, along defined routes over comparatively short distances requiring low endurance. This has now expanded into the automobile industry and nearly all of the world’s major vehicle manufacturers are involved, some heavily.

One of the central dilemmas facing Fuel Cell Vehicles commercialisation is whether to generate the hydrogen off-board and store it on the vehicle or store a hydrogen-rich compound onboard the vehicle. Both strategies are technically possible and neither strategy yields a clearly preferable result so far from the consumer’s perspective.

Companies involved in the production of Fuel Cell Vehicles are BMW, Daihatsu, Daimler-Chrysler (which believes that it leads the industry in fuel cell vehicle demonstration projects worldwide), Delphi, Fiat, Ford, General Motors, GM-PATAC, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Michelin, Mitsubishi, Nissan, PSA/Peugeot, Renault, Suzuki, Toyota, Volvo, Volkswagen AG.

Transit buses are widely viewed as one of the best strategies for commercialising fuel cells for vehicles and transitioning to a hydrogen economy. Many advantages have been identified regarding the use of transit buses as fuel cell platforms. Major institutions and programmes in this sector include the Georgetown University Fuel Cell Bus Programme, DaimlerChrysler EVOBAS, Electric Fuel Corporation, Irisbus, Gillig, Hino Motors, MAN, NABI (North American Bus Industries), Neoplan, New Flyer Industries, Nova Bus, Proton Motor Fuel Cell GmbH, Toyota, Thor Industries Inc, UTC, Van Hool, Volvo Bus.

The first fuel cell vehicles were specialty vehicles. Allis Chalmers built and demonstrated a tractor in 1959 utilising an alkaline fuel cell that produced 20 horsepower. During the 1960s, Pratt & Whitney delivered the first of an estimated 200 fuel cell auxiliary power units for space applications. Union Carbide delivered a fuel cell scooter to the US Army in 1967 and Engelhard developed a fuel-cell-powered forklift about 1969.

Gasification of Biomass

Solid biomass can be converted into a gaseous form. The gas can then run through a combined-cycle gas turbine or another power conversion technology such as a coal power plant. Many experts hope that gasification can yield more efficient biomass power plants. Biomass gasification is the latest generation of biomass energy conversion processes and is being used at a scale of up to 50 MW to improve the efficiency, and to reduce the investment costs of biomass electricity generation through the use of gas turbine technology. High efficiencies (up to about 50%) are achievable using combined-cycle gas turbine systems, where waste heat from the gas turbine is recovered to produce steam for use in a steam turbine. Economic studies show that biomass gasification plants can be as economical as conventional coal-fired plants. However gas cleanup to an acceptable standard remains the major challenge yet to be overcome.

New technologies are being developed to produce biogas for bio generation. Biogas consists of methane, which is found in natural gas, together with hydrogen and other gases and lessons are being learned from coal gasification systems. Some new gasification technologies make biogas by heating wood chips or other biomass in an oxygen-starved environment. Gasification is probably the most important and efficient energy-conversion technology for a wide variety of biomass fuels. The large-scale deployment of efficient technology along with interventions to enhance the sustainable supply of biomass fuels can transform the energy supply situation in rural areas. It has the potential to become the growth engine for rural development in the country.

A second method for making biogas is with landfills. As paper and other biomass decay inside a landfill, they naturally produce methane, which can be recovered by drilling wells into the landfill and piping the gas to a central processing facility for filtering and cleaning. Clean landfill gas is then ready to fuel a biopower plant or help to heat a building.

Biogas can be burned or co-fired in a boiler to produce steam for electricity generation. Biogas can also fuel gas turbines or combined-cycle generation systems. In a combined-cycle system, pressurised gas first turns a gas turbine to generate electricity. The waste gas from the gas turbine is then burned to make steam for additional power production.

Conversion of solid biomass into combustible gas has the advantages associated with using gaseous and liquid fuels such as clean combustion, compact burning equipment, high thermal efficiency, which can reach 60%-70%. In locations, where biomass is already available at reasonable low prices (e.g. rice mills) or in industries using fuel wood, gasifier systems offer definite economic advantages. Biomass gasification technology is also environment-friendly, because of the firewood savings and reduction in CO₂ emissions. Biomass gasification technology has the potential to replace diesel and other petroleum products in several applications.

Development of Ocean, Tidal and Wave Energy

Ocean energy is mostly in an experimental stage. Many ideas have been generated, and a lot of experimental projects are being funded both by governments and commercially. These range from technologies and schemes which produce small amounts of energy for local, often dedicated use, to large-scale projects which can or will be capable of supplying energy in quantities sufficient to feed into a grid. The ocean can produce two types of energy: thermal energy from the sun's heat and mechanical energy from the tides and waves. Energy can be harvested from the oceans in four ways.

As the ocean energy technology develops, the industry is finding that synergies and expertise exist in the offshore wind power and hydropower industries. In the same way, the wind power industry found that the offshore oil and gas industry had a valuable contribution to make in helping with design of offshore wind plants.

Most countries which have investigated the potential exploitation of tidal energy have concentrated on the use of tidal barrages that can be used to control the natural tidal flow, which is directed to drive turbines. Only around 20 sites in the world have been identified as possible tidal power stations. Three countries have tidal energy schemes in operation: France, with the 240 MW tidal barrage at Rance, the largest tidal power station in the world and the only one in Europe, built in 1966; Canada, with the 20 MW Annapolis tidal barrage; and China, with an 11 MW scheme of small tidal plants.

Experimental tidal energy projects are being tested in Russia, UK, Australia, USA, Argentina, Canada, India, Korea, and Mexico.

Potential sites for tidal energy stations are few and far between, but a number have been identified in the UK, France, Eastern Canada, the Pacific coast of Russia, Korea, China, Mexico, and Chile. Other sites have been identified along the Patagonian coast of Argentina, Western Australia, and Western India.

Tidal ranges along the west coast of England and Wales are unusually large, averaging 7 to 8 metres on the spring tides in several estuaries and as much as 11 metres in the Severn. The Severn estuary is the site for the most ambitious tidal barrage that has been proposed for the UK so far, and it has been discussed for many years.

Tidal energy is expensive to install, costing UK£1.5 /US$2.4 million per megawatt, compared with about US$1 million per megawatt for wind turbines. It also has environmental problems including effects on tidal waters and ecosystems. On the positive side, it is cheap to maintain once installed and the electricity output is completely predictable.

Tidal energy barrages would modify existing estuarine ecosystems to varying degrees, and environmental considerations are some of the barriers which have to be overcome to develop them.

Over 300 wave and tidal devices have been suggested to date, but of these, very few are in an advanced state of development. A study in early 2005 identified that one technology, Ocean Power Delivery's “Pelamis,” was leading in terms of development, and a further 4 systems were following closely behind. There are many different wave energy devices on the drawing board or undergoing tests.

Wave energy is within sight of being able to provide commercially viable electricity. The experience of onshore wind energy costs, which have been seen to fall by a factor of five over 12 to 15 years, supports predictions that the cost of wave energy will fall to 3-4 cents/kWh in five to eight years.

Wave energy is generated by the movement of devices, stationary or floating on the surface of the ocean and moved by waves, as opposed to a large volume of tidal water that is used to drive motors.

The highest energy waves are concentrated off the western coasts in the 40°–60° latitude range north and south, in the Atlantic SW of Ireland, the Southern Ocean and off Cape Horn. The capability to supply electricity from this resource is such that, if harnessed appropriately, 10% of the current level of world supply could be provided.

Development is proceeding vigorously, and while little generating capacity has yet been created, the technology is being explored with many new ideas.

Experimental wave energy projects are being tested in Australia, UK, USA, Argentina, Canada, China, India, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Maldives, and Norway.

Benefits would undoubtedly be gained from greater international collaboration on as many as possible of the pre-competitive aspects of R&D. At present, the EU funding opportunities provide a major incentive to encourage collaboration, but there is room for other mechanisms to bring the international wave community closer together and avoid duplication and waste.

Growing Pains of the Wind Industry

The wind power industry is evolving rapidly and in 2007 we are seeing many changes. The wind sector is growing quickly and reaching new countries. At the same time, several developments have taken place which are having an impact on all aspects of the energy industry. Wind power is no longer in its infancy. From being a small, even marginal energy source, wind is now entering the main stream of energy development and is poised to become a significant contributor of non-base load energy. The rate of annual growth increased up to a 5 year CAGR of 28.5% in 2004 and dropped slightly to 26.3% in 2006. This has been faster than the initial growth of hydro capacity and during the last five years new wind capacity has been growing at double the rate of nuclear capacity.

There has been a great deal of debate in the last two or three years about various technical aspects of wind power. New information about the power delivery and environmental parameters of wind power has now become available and it raises a number of important questions. This information is based on the operational experience of the largest and most experienced wind power grid operators. The debate is now entering a new phase. At the beginning the response from much of the wind industry and its lobbyists was to label these questions as ‘myths’, many of them still do. The quality of the argumentation by the wind power promoters has been poor and there has been a lack of balanced analysis. The new dimension to the debate is that it is focused more on seeking solutions rather than denying that problems exist. Several years of large scale generating experience by leading network operators have revealed important characteristics of wind power operation and produced a body of empirical evidence. These reports come from the USA, Germany (E.ON, largest wind operator in the world), Denmark (Eltra), Ireland (ESB), Spain and Portugal.

The most important of these concern the following areas:

Wind power capacity factors

Intermittency or variability of wind

Mis-match of wind power supply and demand

Inadequacy of weather forecasting

The difficulty of balancing the grid because of the variability of wind

Demands on the grid

Credit capacity