PV for the North

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FUEL CELLS An engine runs..but no noise, nothing
moves. Heck -- what could be more
boring? Mani Govindasamy Tamizh-Mani manit_at_asu.e
du College of Technology and Applied
Sciences Arizona State University East Mesa, AZ

Environmental Portfolio Standards Workshop 2,
Arizona Corporation Commission, Phoenix, AZ,
April 5, 2004
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ASU Photovoltaic Testing Laboratory
ASU Fuel Cell Laboratory
PV Certification, Standards, Modeling
FC Evaluation, Demonstration and Product Research

• SRP - First residential fuel cell system in AZ
  5 kW PEM
• Uses natural gas
• Generated more than 20 MWh electricity since
  June 2003
• (22 months worth of electricity consumption by
  a typical AZ home)
• SRP 250 kW High Temperature Fuel Cell system
  Soon!

• Only accredited laboratory in the US!
• World has made use of this laboratory,
• but not really by Arizona!

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What is a fuel cell?
Load
Electricity
_

Fuel cell
H2O
Heat
IC
IC
Chemical energy Thermal energy
Mechanical energy
Electrical energy
FC
IC
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Hydrogen source Current dominant choice
Reformer
Natural Gas
Electricity
_
95

Fuel cell
Renewable Sources
Electrolyzer
Electricity
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Fuel Cells Operating Principle
Source http//www.ecn.nl/sf/products/pemfc/animat
ions.html
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Types of fuel cells
Major Advantage and Disadvantage

• Quick start up
• Intolerance to CO impurity from fuel

• Inexpensive
• Intolerance to CO2 from fuel or air

• Better tolerance to CO from fuel
• Corrosive environment

• Tolerance to impure fuel Co-gen.
• Corrosive environment

• Tolerance to impure fuel Co-gen.
• Component breakdown

www.education.lanl.gov/resource/fuelcells
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Application range
Typical Portable Cars, boats, Distributed
power, applications electronics domestic buses
POWER in watts 1 10
100 1k
10k 100k 1M
10M Range of application of
different types of fuel cells
AFC
MCFC
SOFC
PEMFC
PAFC
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DOD Fuel Cell Program

ASU East (FY03)
http//www.dodfuelcell.com/res/demo_map.html
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Cost

500,000 units production per year (AD Little)
Impossible to Quantitatively Forecast the
Market!!! Dr. R. M. (Bob) Moore, UC Davis,
Fuel Cell Seminar 2002. Business as Usual 2010
Conventional Vehicles Unchallenged 2020
Hybrid ICEVs Dominant 2040 Transition Begins
to ZEV (FCV) World
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Water resource for hydrogen production (2
gallons/day/home 0.8 kg of hydrogen)
Best electrical efficiency STEAM ELECTROLYSIS
Electrolzer operates _at_ 500-1000oC It needs
Water, Steam, Heat, Electricity
Where do we get water? Rain water How do we
generate steam? Concentrated solar thermal How
do we maintain 1000oC? Heat generated from
Electrolyzer Concentrated solar thermal
Makeup heat from flat-plate
thermal/PV/CPV Where do we get
electricity? Concentrator PV or flat-plate PV
Arizona receives 7 inches (18 cm) of rain a
year or each 56 cm2 area receives 1 liter of
water a year. Each stowed Amonix 5 kW CPV panel
(MegamoduleTM, 13.8 m x 3.2 m 441,600 cm2)
could receive 8,000 liters of water a year and
could generate 14,600 kWh of electricity a year.
At 88 electrolyzer efficiency, every 5 kWh
electricity needs 1 liter of water or 14,600 kWh
electricity needs 3,000 liters of water. Rain
provides more than enough water (8,000 liters)
for electrolysis (3,000 liters) and for surface
rinsing (lt100 liters per time)!!!
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Fuel cell industry in Arizona and US

• AZ - Installed capacity 0.21 MW (City of Mesa
  and ASU East)
• US Army - Installed capacity 0.250 MW (50
  units all over the country)
• US projected Installed capacity 130 GW by
  2010
• Land use 5 kW residential system Little
  larger than a refrigerator size!
• Operation cost 0.13/kWh just for natural gas
  expense!
• Emissions CO2 if natural gas reformation none
  if water electrolysis
• Companies in AZ 2 3 on a very small scale!
• Companies in US 50

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Investment and Job Creation

• Fuel cell is a developmental technology, not a
  commercial technology
• Evaluation and demonstration to be done for the
  AZ climatic condition!

• Hydrogen production Solar-Steam Electrolysis or
  Wind-Steam Electrolysis
• Very pure hydrogen --- a valuable product for
  semiconductor and FCV industries!

• Emissions testing laboratory in AZ
• For both automobile and residential fuel cell
  systems!

Thank You!