FuelCell Energy

Last updated
FuelCell Energy, Inc.
Company type Public
Nasdaq:  FCEL
Russell 2000 Index component
ISIN US35952H6018
Industry Renewable energy, Fuel cells, Carbon capture and energy storage
Founded1969;55 years ago (1969)
Headquarters Danbury, Connecticut, United States
Key people
Jason Few (CEO and president) [1]
RevenueUS$70.87 million (as of 2021) [2]
Website www.fuelcellenergy.com
Former logo Fuelcell Identity.tif
Former logo

FuelCell Energy, Inc. is a publicly traded fuel cell company headquartered in Danbury, Connecticut. It designs, manufactures, operates and services Direct Fuel Cell power plants, which is a type of molten carbonate fuel cell.

Contents

As one of the biggest publicly traded fuel cell manufacturers in the U.S., [3] the company provides clean energy in over 50 locations all over the world. [4] It operates the world’s largest fuel cell park, Gyeonggi Green Energy Fuel cell park, which is located in South Korea.

The park consists of 21 power plants providing 59 Megawatt of electricity plus district heating to a number of customers in South Korea. [5] It also operates the largest fuel cell park in North America, consisting of five 2.8MW power plants and a rankine cycle turbine bottoming cycle in Bridgeport, Connecticut. [6] It's customer base covers commercial and industrial enterprises including utility companies, municipalities, and universities. [7]

History

The company was founded as Energy Research Corporation (ERC) in 1969 by early fuel cell pioneers Bernard Baker and Martin Klein, both chemical engineers with experience in advanced battery technologies. From the 1970s to 1990s, with sponsorship from U.S. military and other utility companies, the company extended to low-temperature fuel cell area and high-temperature carbonate fuel systems, which proved to have greater potential in commercial applications.

It completed its IPO in 1992 and was renamed as FuelCell Energy, Inc. It spun off its battery division, Evercel, in 1999. FuelCell Energy began expanding globally in 2007 through a partnership with POSCO Energy, targeting markets in Southeast Asia, particularly South Korea, but the company announced the termination of the partnership in 2020.

In 2012, the company’s European facility was established with German-based FuelCell Energy Solutions, GmbH. [8] In the same year, it completed a joint venture with Fraunhofer IKTS and acquired Versa Power Systems, Inc. [9]

Beginning in 2012, FuelCell entered into a partnership with ExxonMobil, removing carbon dioxide from the exhaust of Exxon’s power plants through the carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) process. [4] In 2019, the two companies expanded their joint-development agreement, with a focus on enhancing carbonate fuel cell technology for the purpose of capturing carbon dioxide from industrial facilities. [10]

In 2017 FuelCell entered an agreement with Toyota to develop a facility at Long Beach, California. [11] The Tri-Gen system will convert California agricultural waste into 2.35 megawatts of electricity and 1.2 tons of hydrogen per day. The hydrogen will be used in Toyota Mirai sedans and heavy-duty trucks in short-distance fleets. [12]

Also in 2017, FuelCell was tapped by the Office of Naval Research to provide assistance on the Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (LDUUV) program. The LDUUV is a large unmanned submersible with a planned 70 day plus endurance that would allow the LDUUV to be based at a pier like a traditional submarine instead of requiring a dedicated launch and recovery platform. [13]

In 2018, FuelCell Energy earned a $1.5 million research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop the company’s fuel cell technology to aid the nuclear industry by converting excess power back into hydrogen. [14] That same year, FuelCell began the construction of two plants in Hartford and New Britain as part of a clean energy procurement process for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). [15]

In November 2018, FuelCell acquired a 14.9-MW fuel cell project in Bridgeport, Connecticut from Dominion Energy for $37 million. FuelCell had developed, built and been operating the plant since 2013. The plant is powered by five FuelCell stationary fuel cell power plants and an organic rankine turbine that converts heat from the fuel cells into additional electricity, which is sold to Connecticut Light & Power. [16]

In 2019, FuelCell entered an agreement with Drax Power Station in the UK. FuelCell will support a study to evaluate the use of the company’s carbonate fuel cells to capture carbon dioxide emissions from Drax’s biomass boilers, which generate power with sustainable wood pellets sourced from responsibly managed forests. [17]

In August 2019, Jason Few was named FuelCell’s new president and CEO. Prior to FuelCell, Few was president of cloud-based software waste and recycling optimization company Sustayn. [18]

In May 2021, FuelCell Energy signed an $8 million contract with the DOE. The DOE program is focused on developing system approaches to achieve electrical efficiency with solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology. It will allow FuelCell to continue research and development toward commercialization of SOFC. [19]

In June 2021, FuelCell completed construction on a bio-fuels fuel cell project with the city of San Bernardino Municipal Water Department (SBMWD). The SureSource 1500 plant treats the city’s anaerobic digester gas to produce electricity and thermal energy to support the county’s water reclamation plant. [20] As part of the agreement, SBMWD purchases electricity from FuelCell Energy. [21]

Products and services

FuelCell provides on-site power generation, combined heat and power, distributed hydrogen, carbon capture and hydrogen-based long duration storage. [22]

The company provide solutions on areas such as Produce Hydrogen [23] -High-efficiency hydrogen production platforms and Decarbonize power [24] Practical solutions for energy decarbonization

The company today has fuel cell projects that run on natural gas and renewable biogas. The company’s products can produce hydrogen in addition to power and thermal attributes. Additionally, the company has capabilities for fuel cell-based carbon capture, long-duration energy storage and solid-oxide based electrolysis. [25]

FuelCell’s proprietary technology uses carbonate fuel cells to capture and concentrate carbon dioxide from large industrial sources. Combustion exhaust is directed to the fuel cell, which produces power while capturing and concentrating carbon dioxide for permanent storage. [10] Fuel cells take energy like natural gas or hydrogen, combine that with air, and make electricity. The process is done via an electrochemical process, which doesn’t burn fuel, making the process cleaner and more efficient than conventional methods. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fuel cell</span> Device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity

A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel and an oxidizing agent into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requiring a continuous source of fuel and oxygen to sustain the chemical reaction, whereas in a battery the chemical energy usually comes from substances that are already present in the battery. Fuel cells can produce electricity continuously for as long as fuel and oxygen are supplied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steelmaking</span> Process for producing steel from iron ore and scrap

Steelmaking is the process of producing steel from iron ore and/or scrap. In steelmaking, impurities such as nitrogen, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, and excess carbon are removed from the sourced iron, and alloying elements such as manganese, nickel, chromium, carbon, and vanadium are added to produce different grades of steel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gasification</span> Form of energy conversion

Gasification is a process that converts biomass- or fossil fuel-based carbonaceous materials into gases, including as the largest fractions: nitrogen (N2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), and carbon dioxide (CO2). This is achieved by reacting the feedstock material at high temperatures (typically >700 °C), without combustion, via controlling the amount of oxygen and/or steam present in the reaction. The resulting gas mixture is called syngas (from synthesis gas) or producer gas and is itself a fuel due to the flammability of the H2 and CO of which the gas is largely composed. Power can be derived from the subsequent combustion of the resultant gas, and is considered to be a source of renewable energy if the gasified compounds were obtained from biomass feedstock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alternative fuel</span> Fuels from sources other than fossil fuels

Alternative fuels, also known as non-conventional and advanced fuels, are fuels derived from sources other than petroleum. Alternative fuels include gaseous fossil fuels like propane, natural gas, methane, and ammonia; biofuels like biodiesel, bioalcohol, and refuse-derived fuel; and other renewable fuels like hydrogen and electricity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydrogen economy</span> Using hydrogen to decarbonize more sectors

The hydrogen economy is an umbrella term for the roles hydrogen can play alongside low-carbon electricity to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The aim is to reduce emissions where cheaper and more energy-efficient clean solutions are not available. In this context, hydrogen economy encompasses the production of hydrogen and the use of hydrogen in ways that contribute to phasing-out fossil fuels and limiting climate change.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molten carbonate fuel cell</span>

Molten-carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) are high-temperature fuel cells that operate at temperatures of 600 °C and above.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable energy</span> Energy that responsibly meets social, economic, and environmental needs

Energy is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Definitions of sustainable energy usually look at its effects on the environment, the economy, and society. These impacts range from greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution to energy poverty and toxic waste. Renewable energy sources such as wind, hydro, solar, and geothermal energy can cause environmental damage but are generally far more sustainable than fossil fuel sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High-temperature electrolysis</span> Technique for producing hydrogen from water

High-temperature electrolysis is a technology for producing hydrogen from water at high temperatures or other products, such as iron or carbon nanomaterials, as higher energy lowers needed electricity to split molecules and opens up new, potentially better electrolytes like molten salts or hydroxides. Unlike electrolysis at room temperature, HTE operates at elevated temperature ranges depending on the thermal capacity of the material. Because of the detrimental effects of burning fossil fuels on humans and the environment, HTE has become a necessary alternative and efficient method by which hydrogen can be prepared on a large scale and used as fuel. The vision of HTE is to move towards decarbonization in all economic sectors. The material requirements for this process are: the heat source, the electrodes, the electrolyte, the electrolyzer membrane, and the source of electricity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steam reforming</span> Method for producing hydrogen and carbon monoxide from hydrocarbon fuels

Steam reforming or steam methane reforming (SMR) is a method for producing syngas (hydrogen and carbon monoxide) by reaction of hydrocarbons with water. Commonly natural gas is the feedstock. The main purpose of this technology is hydrogen production. The reaction is represented by this equilibrium:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fossil fuel power station</span> Facility that burns fossil fuels to produce electricity

A fossil fuel power station is a thermal power station which burns a fossil fuel, such as coal, oil, or natural gas, to produce electricity. Fossil fuel power stations have machinery to convert the heat energy of combustion into mechanical energy, which then operates an electrical generator. The prime mover may be a steam turbine, a gas turbine or, in small plants, a reciprocating gas engine. All plants use the energy extracted from the expansion of a hot gas, either steam or combustion gases. Although different energy conversion methods exist, all thermal power station conversion methods have their efficiency limited by the Carnot efficiency and therefore produce waste heat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Methanol economy</span> Economic theory

The methanol economy is a suggested future economy in which methanol and dimethyl ether replace fossil fuels as a means of energy storage, ground transportation fuel, and raw material for synthetic hydrocarbons and their products. It offers an alternative to the proposed hydrogen economy or ethanol economy, although these concepts are not exclusive. Methanol can be produced from a variety of sources including fossil fuels as well as agricultural products and municipal waste, wood and varied biomass. It can also be made from chemical recycling of carbon dioxide.

Hydrogen gas is produced by several industrial methods. Nearly all of the world's current supply of hydrogen is created from fossil fuels. Most hydrogen is gray hydrogen made through steam methane reforming. In this process, hydrogen is produced from a chemical reaction between steam and methane, the main component of natural gas. Producing one tonne of hydrogen through this process emits 6.6–9.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide. When carbon capture and storage is used to remove a large fraction of these emissions, the product is known as blue hydrogen.

A Direct Carbon Fuel Cell (DCFC) is a fuel cell that uses a carbon rich material as a fuel such as bio-mass or coal. The cell produces energy by combining carbon and oxygen, which releases carbon dioxide as a by-product. It is also called coal fuel cells (CFCs), carbon-air fuel cells (CAFCs), direct carbon/coal fuel cells (DCFCs), and DC-SOFC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electrofuel</span> Carbon-neutral drop-in replacement fuel

Electrofuels, also known as e-fuels, are a class of synthetic fuels which function as drop-in replacement fuels for internal combustion engines. They are manufactured using captured carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide, together with hydrogen obtained from water split. Electrolysis is possible with both traditional fossil fuel energy sources, as well as low-carbon electricity sources such as wind, solar and nuclear power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carbon Recycling International</span> Icelandic technology company

Carbon Recycling International (CRI) is an Icelandic limited liability company which has developed a technology designed to produce renewable methanol, also known as e-methanol, from carbon dioxide and hydrogen, using water electrolysis or, alternatively, hydrogen captured from industrial waste gases. The technology is trademarked by CRI as Emissions-to-Liquids (ETL) and the renewable methanol produced by CRI is trademarked as Vulcanol. In 2011 CRI became the first company to produce and sell liquid renewable transport fuel produced using only carbon dioxide, water and electricity from renewable sources.

Carbon-neutral fuel is fuel which produces no net-greenhouse gas emissions or carbon footprint. In practice, this usually means fuels that are made using carbon dioxide (CO2) as a feedstock. Proposed carbon-neutral fuels can broadly be grouped into synthetic fuels, which are made by chemically hydrogenating carbon dioxide, and biofuels, which are produced using natural CO2-consuming processes like photosynthesis.

Power-to-gas is a technology that uses electric power to produce a gaseous fuel. When using surplus power from wind generation, the concept is sometimes called windgas.

Lower-temperature fuel cell types such as the proton exchange membrane fuel cell, phosphoric acid fuel cell, and alkaline fuel cell require pure hydrogen as fuel, typically produced from external reforming of natural gas. However, fuels cells operating at high temperature such as the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) are not poisoned by carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, and in fact can accept hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, steam, and methane mixtures as fuel directly, because of their internal shift and reforming capabilities. This opens up the possibility of efficient fuel cell-based power cycles consuming solid fuels such as coal and biomass, the gasification of which results in syngas containing mostly hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methane which can be cleaned and fed directly to the SOFCs without the added cost and complexity of methane reforming, water gas shifting and hydrogen separation operations which would otherwise be needed to isolate pure hydrogen as fuel. A power cycle based on gasification of solid fuel and SOFCs is called an Integrated Gasification Fuel Cell (IGFC) cycle; the IGFC power plant is analogous to an integrated gasification combined cycle power plant, but with the gas turbine power generation unit replaced with a fuel cell power generation unit. By taking advantage of intrinsically high energy efficiency of SOFCs and process integration, exceptionally high power plant efficiencies are possible. Furthermore, SOFCs in the IGFC cycle can be operated so as to isolate a carbon dioxide-rich anodic exhaust stream, allowing efficient carbon capture to address greenhouse gas emissions concerns of coal-based power generation.

E-diesel is a synthetic diesel fuel for use in automobiles. Currently, e-diesel is created at two sites: by an Audi research facility Germany in partnership with a company named Sunfire, and in Texas. The fuel is created from carbon dioxide, water, and electricity with a process powered by renewable energy sources to create a liquid energy carrier called blue crude which is then refined to generate e-diesel. E-diesel is considered to be a carbon-neutral fuel as it does not extract new carbon and the energy sources to drive the process are from carbon-neutral sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Direct air capture</span> Method of carbon capture from carbon dioxide in air

Direct air capture (DAC) is the use of chemical or physical processes to extract carbon dioxide directly from the ambient air. If the extracted CO2 is then sequestered in safe long-term storage, the overall process will achieve carbon dioxide removal and be a "negative emissions technology" (NET).

References

  1. "www.fce.com". Archived from the original on 2019-12-29. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  2. "FCEL Financials". Finance.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 2021-09-09. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
  3. Nelder, Chris (2013-09-23). "FuelCell Energy Eyes the Grid Support Market". Greentechmedia.com. Archived from the original on 2014-02-21. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
  4. 1 2 Schwartz, John (5 May 2016). "Exxon Mobil Backs FuelCell Effort to Advance Carbon Capture Technology". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 August 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  5. "World's Largest Fuel Cell Park Completed in South Korea". Finance.yahoo.com. 2014-01-19. Archived from the original on 2014-03-06. Retrieved 2014-02-25.[ Link to precise page ]
  6. "Largest Fuel Cell Power Project in North America". www.ecmag.com. 2013-02-25. Archived from the original on 2014-12-16. Retrieved 2014-11-08.
  7. "FCEL Stock Quote - FuelCell Energy Inc. Stock Price Today (FCEL ..." Marketwatch.com. Archived from the original on 2014-03-01. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
  8. "Brief History Company Website". Fuelcellenrgy.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-31. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
  9. "FuelCell Energy Inc: NASDAQ:FCEL quotes & news - Google Finance". Archived from the original on 2014-01-03. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
  10. 1 2 "ExxonMobil expands CCS technology deal with FuelCell Energy". Power Engineering International. 6 November 2019. Archived from the original on 30 August 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  11. Merchant, Emma Foehringer (12 December 2017). "Toyota and FuelCell Energy Plan to Build a Giant Renewable Power and Hydrogen Plant". GreenTechMedia. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  12. Lippert, John; Martin, Chris (30 November 2017). "Toyota Plans California Fuel Cell Plant to Make Power, Hydrogen". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 11 September 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  13. Keller, John. "Military research projects may be coming together to put large long-endurance UUVs in sight". Military & Aerospace Electronics. Military & Aerospace Electronics. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  14. 1 2 Skahill, Patrick (26 May 2018). "FuelCell Energy, Inc. Gets Federal Boost While Continuing To Gauge State Support". Connecticut Public Radio / NPR. Archived from the original on 5 September 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  15. Cooper, Joe (19 July 2018). "Hartford project stimulates FuelCell Energy's growth". Hartford Business Journal . Archived from the original on 8 November 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  16. Patel, Sonal (6 November 2018). "Dominion Sells 14.9-MW Bridgeport Fuel Cell Facility". Power Magazine. Archived from the original on 12 January 2023. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  17. Zimmerman, Kevin (28 June 2019). "Danbury's FuellCell Energy makes deal with U.K. power company". Westfield & Fairfield County Business Journals. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  18. Zimmerman, Kevin (21 August 2019). "Danbury's struggling FuelCell Energy names new CEO". Westfield & Fairfield County Business Journals. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  19. Teehan, Sean (May 4, 2021), Danbury-based FuelCell Energy inks $8M contract with U.S. Dept. of Energy, Hartford Business Journal, archived from the original on May 4, 2021, retrieved September 1, 2021
  20. Burgess, Molly (2 July 2021). "California: FuelCell Energy's renewable biofuel project now operational". GasWorld. Archived from the original on 28 August 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  21. Voegele, Erin (7 May 2020). "Construction on biofuel fuel cell project begins in California". BioMass Magazine. Archived from the original on 28 August 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  22. "FuelCell Energy Inc". The Wall Street Journal . Archived from the original on 25 August 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  23. "Clean Hydrogen Production and Conversion | FuelCell Energy". FuellCell Energy. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
  24. "Decarbonize Your Power: CHPs & Microgrids | FuelCell Energy". FuellCell Energy. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
  25. Products, FuelCellEnergy.com, archived from the original on September 22, 2021, retrieved September 25, 2021