2019 Fuel Cell Seminar Highlights

by Jennifer Gangi, FCHEA

The Fuel Cell Seminar & Energy Exposition was held once again in Long Beach California, on November 7-9, 2019.  The event attracted more than 600 attendees from 34 countries.

The event kicked off with an H2@Scale workshop from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).  This afternoon session featured presentations from H2@Scale Pilot Project and Project award winners as well as on technical and economic analysis, and focused panels on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells for Heavy-Duty Applications and Chemical and Energy Storage.

The Seminar’s morning plenaries brought some of the industry’s heavy-weights front and center, including CEOs from PowerCell and Plug Power and key speakers from DOE, Ballard Power Systems, the Port of Long Beach, Toyota, Microsoft, Southern California Gas, and more.

One of the Seminar’s exclusive highlights was the launch of the executive summary of the forthcoming Road Map to a US Hydrogen Economy, a comprehensive report that will be released in early 2020.  A coalition of leading companies from the energy, transportation, fuel cell manufacturing, and electric power industries worked jointly to develop this comprehensive road map, sharing and developing economic models as well as data on future energy needs and environmental expectations.   

In both the “Immediate next steps: 2020-2022” and “Early scale-up: 2023-2025,” RCS and policy is specifically mentioned.  “Harmonize technical codes and safety standards” is also listed under “Making systemic changes to pave the way for a hydrogen economy” in the Path Forward at the end of the executive summary.

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The afternoon technical break-out sessions included more than 100 oral presentations and 34 posters.   Session topics included both PEM and SOFC R&D; Hydrogen Production, Storage, and Delivery; Cost Reduction Opportunities; Portable Applications; Heavy-Duty Vehicles; Fuel Cell Durability; Stationary Fuel Cell Applications; Power-to-Gas; Regional Initiatives; Maritime Applications; and more.

One topic track, “Progress and Challenges for Hydrogen Fueling Stations” was broken into two sessions, Part 1 and Part 2, and primarily focused on RCS, pertaining to hydrogen fueling station development.  Speakers hailed from CSA Group, Sandia National Laboratories, Black & Veatch, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. 

The Seminar Exhibit Hall included booths from fuel cell manufacturers, automakers, and both fuel cell and hydrogen energy supply chain companies.  Toyota showcased its new Project Portal fuel cell heavy-duty truck and Mirai fuel cell vehicle. Hyundai brought its Nexo fuel cell vehicle and Plug Power had both a fuel cell-powered forklift and its GenFuel hydrogen dispenser for attendees to see.  There were composite tanks, hoses, nozzles, compressors, coatings, catalysts, fuel cell stacks and systems, hydrogen generators, sensors, testing software and systems, and more on display.

All approved Seminar presentations are now available for registered attendees and full research papers and work from interested authors will be published in a forthcoming Fuel Cell Seminar issue of ECS Transactions from the Electrochemical Society early 2020.

Future IEC TC 105 Activities

by Karen Quackenbush, FCHEA

IEC/TC 105, the technical committee developing international standards for fuel cell technologies, discussed some potential future activities during their annual plenary meeting in October 2019. Here is a summary of the items discussed:

  • Standards for unmanned aircraft systems, potentially on one on safety and one on performance.  China is preparing a draft standard to be proposed.  The author of that is willing to be the convener.  The potential convener is talking about the size range, and it overlaps heavily, but not completely with the Working Group 8 size range. 

  • Standards for fuel cell urban rail transit vehicles performance and test methods.  There is potential for this to be more generic that those for larger systems.  There may need to have some discussions with the international railway association.

  • Korea is looking at performance tests for micro fuel cell power systems and interchangeability for notebooks.  IEC/TC 105 put together a panel to look at other options and determine if a new standard is needed.

  • Europe has a couple of projects that are slated to end and are working to shift some of these to be used by industry. This would include a standard on accelerated stress testing for solid oxide and PEM fuel cells.  This would approximate real world degradation of fuel cell stacks.

Stakeholders with a particular interest in any of these subjects are encouraged to contact Karen Quackenbush at FCHEA for further information and next steps.

SAE J2799 Published

by Karen Quackenbush, FCHEA

SAE J2799, Hydrogen Surface Vehicle to Station Communications Hardware and Software, has been published. The following information was taken from the SAE website, 012120.

This standard specifies the communications hardware and software requirements for fueling hydrogen surface vehicles (HSV), such as fuel cell vehicles, but may also be used where appropriate, with heavy-duty vehicles (e.g., busses) and industrial trucks (e.g., forklifts) with compressed hydrogen storage. It contains a description of the communications hardware and communications protocol that may be used to refuel the HSV. The intent of this standard is to enable harmonized development and implementation of the hydrogen fueling interfaces.

This standard is intended to be used in conjunction with the hydrogen fueling protocols in SAE J2601 and nozzles and receptacles conforming with SAE J2600.

Visit http://works.sae.org if you would like additional details.

Hydrogen alarm for remote hydrogen leak detection

A recent article by Molly Burgess was published in Gas World on 14 January 2020.

“Tomsk Polytechnic University has joined forces with the University of Chemistry and Technology of Prague to develop new sensors based on optical fibre to ensure accurate detection of hydrogen molecules in the air.”

“It is hoped that in the future the systems will be able to contribute a basis for a ‘hydrogen alarm’ used to detect leaks of explosive hydrogen.”

To read the complete article, please visit https://www.gasworld.com/researchers-develop-hydrogen-alarm/2018326.article.

Australian Government Releases National Hydrogen Strategy Report, Calls for Regulatory Action and Reform

By Connor Dolan, FCHEA

In November 2019, the Australian Department of Industry, Innovation, and Science released its National Hydrogen Strategy report, which sets a vision for a future competitive hydrogen industry in the country.  The report details what actions need to be taken for Australia to become a major player in the global hydrogen sector by 2030.

Among the enabling activities identified in the report is a need for a responsive and comprehensive regulatory reform to develop a framework across the supply chain and markets for the hydrogen sector.  This reform will work to remove unnecessary regulatory barriers that are impacting commercialization, as well as improve consistency across various jurisdictions.  The Australian government has also identified a need to coordinate and collaborate with other countries to develop this framework, as well as harmonize Australian codes and standards with the international market.

In addition, the Australian government identified a need to work with leading hydrogen international regulation, codes, standards, and safety organizations such as the International Association for Hydrogen Safety and the Center for Hydrogen Safety to develop training materials and guidelines for the production, handling, transportation, and use of hydrogen in the country.  The Australian governments will review these training procedures and ensure regulators have appropriate understanding of hydrogen infrastructure, projects, and technologies.

One particular aspect that hydrogen is exploring is the regulatory effect of hydrogen blending on the nation’s gas networks.  The appropriate bodies will be considering the appropriate limits for injection of hydrogen into gas networks and its broader impact.

The full National Hydrogen Strategy Report is available online at https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/australias-national-hydrogen-strategy.

Station Locator News

by Karen Quackenbush, FCHEA

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC) Alternative Fueling Station Locator (afdc.energy.gov/stations) team recently announced that there are now over 35,000 public and private stations deployed across the country for biodiesel, CNG, LNG, propane, electric chargers, and hydrogen fuel. In 2019 alone, the Station Locator helped hundreds of thousands of alternative fuel vehicle drivers, industry stakeholders, government agency staff, and academics find the nearest fueling station, plan for infrastructure investments, track industry growth, and analyze trends.

The Station Locator features both public and private stations, including fleet fueling stations, workplace charging stations, and multi-unit dwelling charging stations. The team also adds information on planned stations and stations that are temporarily out of service or offline.

For more information, visit the About the Fueling Station Data page (afdc.energy.gov/stations/#/find/nearest?show_about=true).

What’s new in the Station Locator in 2019?

  • Updated Data Download (afdc.energy.gov/data_download) now includes facility type; other blends available at E85 stations; EV charging station pricing; hydrogen station pressure and standards compliance; number of dispensers, total compression capacity, storage capacity, and renewable source at CNG and LNG stations.

What’s on tap for 2020?

The team will continue our focus on private station data collection, including fleet fueling infrastructure and multi-unit dwelling charging stations. These stations are important to our overall data collection efforts, as they allow for a comprehensive look at the industry. In addition, we continue to seek out reliable and accurate data sources, including APIs.

How do I submit new stations?

Please send us updates at any time using the attached Excel spreadsheet template. Please send it to the Technical Response Service at technicalresponse@icf.com. You can also submit new stations online: afdc.energy.gov/stations/#/station/new, and report changes by selecting “Report a change” on an individual station page. In addition, if there is a change to the contact information for your stations, please let us know.

How can I get more frequent updates?

Based on feedback from industry, the team will be sending more frequent communications about changes to data sources (e.g., new APIs), new fields and functionality, and database structure and documentation. If you would like to opt in to these periodic (no more than once per month) updates, please email technicalresponse@icf.com.