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2012 Fuel CellRCS Review

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PICTURE CREDITS

Fuel Cell Today is grateful to the following organisations for the use of their illustrations in The 2012 Fuel Cell RCS Review.For copyright information or permission to use any of these images, please contact the relevant organisation.

The Blue Marble 4th January 2012, outside covers NASAFCX Clarity FCEV production line, inside covers HondaEarth Hour 2008, p.2 WWFFuel cells in a row, p.3 Horizon Fuel Cell TechnologiesHonda FCX Clarity refuelling nozzle, p.8 Rebecca Markillie/ITM PowerHyundai ix35 fuel cell emblem, p.8 HyundaiSmartFuel Hamburg station, p.9 Air ProductsUK Business Minister Mark Prisk refuelling an FCEV, p. 9 BIS UKHydrogen refuelling, p.10 Car and Driver/Mercedes-Benz EuropeImpacted GM FCEV, p.10 General Motors via USA TodayEuropean Commission logo, p.11 European CommissionBurgman fuel cell scooter, p.11 Suzuki/Intelligent EnergyHyFLEET:CUTE bus in Berlin, p.11 Spiegel OnlineFuel cell bus parked outside the US DOT, p.12 US National Fuel Cell Bus ProgramFCEV lined up in Toronto, p.12 Fuel Cell TodayA HySUT station in Suginami, Tokyo, p.13 Fuel Cells 2000Dot map of Japan, p.13 PockystudioPureCell fuel cells at Coca-Cola bottling facility, p.16 UTC PowerTelecoms mast in Maharashtra, India, p.16 Rohit Gowaikar via FlickrPureCell fuel cell system installed in Connecticut, p.17 UTC PowerEne-Farm micro-CHP system, p.17 PanasonicGalileo micro-CHP system, p.17 Hexis AGEFOY installed in an RV, p.22 SFC EnergyMiniPak portable electronics charger, p.22 Horizon Fuel Cell TechnologiesBloom Energy Servers, p.23 Alan Russo

NOVEMBER 2012

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2012 Fuel Cell RCS Review

Contents

1. Introduction

1.1 Aim and Scope

1.2 Progress in Fuel Cell RCS

1.3 Global RCS Bodies

1.3.1 International Organization for Standardization

1.3.2 International Electrotechnical Commission

2. Certification

2.1 Europe

2.2 North America

Case Study: ITM Power and the Road to Certification

3. Developments in Transportation, Fuel and Infrastructure

3.1 Accepting Hydrogen as a Fuel

3.2 Global Standards

3.2.1 Hydrogen Refuelling Stations

3.2.2 Hydrogen Vehicle Fuel

3.2.3 Safety, Best Practices, and Other

3.3 European Union

3.4 North America

3.4.1 Canada

3.5 Japan

Case Study: ReliOn and Conforming with Industry Standards

4. Developments in Stationary Applications

4.1 Uninterruptible Power Supplies

4.2 Prime Power

4.3 Domestic CHP

Case Study: Nedstack and Meeting a Niche Demand

Case Study: SFC Energy and Pioneering in a Sector

5. Developments in Portable Applications

6. Lessons Learnt and Concluding Remarks

Appendix

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1. Introduction

Regulations, codes and standards (RCS) are a key part of the development and running of any industry. This document will look at the ways in which RCS affect fuel cells and the fuels they use as the technologies begin to commercialise. Codes and standards are influential as they feed into and form the basis for legislative regulations; it is important to look at all levels of RCS (shown in Figure 1) when assessing industries and technologies that are still developing.

There are no generally accepted definitions for RCS but Fuel Cell Today takes the terms as meaning:

• Regulations – Statutory requirements imposed by governments or other authorities.

• Codes – Rules and guidelines prepared by government or industry groups to protect individuals, the public and the environment.

• Standards – Accepted methods for testing and demonstrating safety and performance; these are measures arrived at by custom and general consent, or, more usually, defined by regulatory bodies.

The aim of most businesses, and indeed industries, is to make money; fitness for sale is the area of RCS that most fuel cell businesses are looking to satisfy. Products placed on the market must comply with regulations concerning safety, noise emissions, pollutant emissions and a plethora of other considerations. However, there are other important areas:

Permitting use – An RCS framework that permits the use of the fuel cell product and its fuel in its intended application is necessary for a functioning market.

Performance measurement – It is extremely helpful to manufacturers to have standards that define how the performance of systems should be

measured and declared. This is particularly important if fuel cells are being compared with other technologies in terms of their power

delivery or environmental performance.

End of life – Increasingly, it is also a requirement that the means of disposal or recycling are defined.

Figure 1: RCS pyramid 1

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1.1 Aim and Scope

Much work has been done, and much more is still progressing, on fuel-cell-specific RCS. These efforts are generally ‘cross-cutting’ activities, relevant to many different markets and product types. This Review gives an overview of this work categorised by broad application area. The Review does not aim to be a comprehensive technical list of every RCS item: Fuel Cell Today is not in a position to curate such a document, which would be almost immediately outdated. Instead, a list of frequently updated online information resources is provided.

In most instances fuel cells are used as power sources in products and systems for which application-specific RCS frameworks already exist. Some of these application areas, for example military, marine and mining, have very specific RCS regimes. Standards developed for applications with particularly stringent requirements, for example safety testing in aviation, can facilitate the setting of standards in other applications. Generally, however, the challenge and opportunity is to make use of the existing rules in the relevant market area.

This Review focuses on RCS that enables the sale and use of fuel cells, most specifically on the certification of fuel cell products for sale, rather than market-based policy that creates a demand for fuel cell products. Case studies are used to demonstrate how established companies have navigated this often complex and daunting landscape and brought certified products to market.

1.2 Progress in Fuel Cell RCS

The global fuel cell market is one of increasing maturity. As the automotive industry moves towards a 2015 commercial launch of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV), as portable fuel cells enter the hands of consumers, and as large-scale fuel cell power stations begin to rise in Korea and elsewhere we can begin to see regulation advancing to accommodate the use of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in real-world applications.

However, as an increasing number of fuel cell and hydrogen (FCH) developments near commercial readiness, there is a worry across the supply chain and associated parties of several industries that the pace of commercialisation will outstrip the slow legislation building process – leaving companies with products to sell into markets that can’t accept them, regardless of demand. Legislation building often spans several phases of discussion, drafting and modification; it can take well over three years from the point of demand and initial discussion to final implementation of an international standard, for example. Companies may design products to the requirements of local or draft legislation but doing so will always be a calculated risk.

As a workaround measure products may be exempted from certain legislation. For example, the EU type approval of hydrogen vehicles facilitates exemption from existing prohibitive vehicle legislation. However, such widespread exemptions will only qualify for specific products in specific regions. The building of regulations, codes and standards varies on a national level but a strong international approach must be taken to ensure market readiness, particularly in respect to relatively nascent technologies and consumer concepts such as hydrogen and fuel cells.

It is evident that there is a deficit in, and a demand for, harmonised international standards, especially in the automotive and automotive infrastructure sectors. Maintaining disparate RCS regimes is both financially and administratively challenging, and would be avoided through harmonisation. There are International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) technical committees (TC) working on, respectively, hydrogen technologies and fuel cell technologies. Standards

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from these committees are at varying levels of development, some are in first drafts, others are published or under revision.

These detailed standards are the necessary basis for regulations set and enforced by governments and authorities. Different regions take different approaches: American states will take international standards and modify them to their liking, often in the form of codes; Japan will often develop its own stringent domestic standards; the European Union will adopt a standard centrally and enforce it upon member states.

Standards tend to be cyclical in nature; whilst obviously necessary this can cause problems, particularly when a single edition of a standard is written into a code or regulation, as is common in the American model. This leads to fragmentation, with different states enforcing differing variants of a standard, which can be a challenge in certain applications. The European model is perhaps the most empowering for fuel cell and hydrogen technologies as it is generally progressive and lays a universal framework across a market of more than 500 million people over 27 countries.

Slowly a global RCS framework is emerging but as previously mentioned, standardisation and regulation building are historically slow processes that can only be accelerated by more active involvement from affected parties and through substantial funding. There is a potential competitive advantage for companies that heavily involve themselves with standards, as benchmarks may be set around that company’s existing and planned designs; this is however dependent on application maturity. RCS is not a simple area to approach for fuel cell and related companies but active engagement can ease future commercialisation and deployment.

1.3 Global RCS Bodies

In respect to hydrogen and fuel cell standardisation, the two most prolific international bodies are the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission. The two are partners and also collaborate extensively with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), though the activities of ITU do not tend to directly affect FCH products. This is not to say they do not affect markets however; telecommunications base station and data centre backup power is a huge and ever-expanding market sector for stationary fuel cells. Together the three bodies formed the World Standards Cooperation (WSC) in 2001 to strengthen and advance their respective standardisation systems (improving transparency and avoiding duplication of effort), and to further promote the benefits of international standardisation.

1.3.1 International Organization for Standardization

ISO was formed in 1947 as an independent, non-governmental platform for the development and publication of voluntary international standards via consensus. It is a network that now comprises members from the national standards bodies of 164 countries and 3,335 technical bodies. In its 65 years ISO has published close to 20,000 standards covering a wide range of technology and business areas. The body’s goal is to create international standards that give state-of-the-art specifications for products, services and good practice in order to help industry be more efficient and effective. ISO’s Central Secretariat (~150 staff, Geneva) is financed by subscription fees from its members; its other activities are supported by revenue from sales of its standards and the subsidisation of experts’ travel and time by the organisations they represent. Its FCH efforts (organised under Technical Committee 197) focus primarily on the hydrogen side.

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1.3.2 International Electrotechnical Commission

IEC is 40 years’ ISO’s senior and is the world’s largest organisation for the preparation and publication of standards concerning ‘electrotechnology’: devices that contain electronics, and use or produce electricity – a vast spectrum. It aims to provide a platform to companies, industries and governments for meeting, discussing and developing the international standards they require. Like ISO it operates a consensus-based system with every member country given an equal vote. Its FCH efforts (organised under Technical Committee 105) focus primarily on the fuel cell technology side.

2. CertificationCertification of both manufacture and products is critical in any industry that wishes to sell to consumers. Commercial sales of fuel cells have only begun in the last five years and certification can be a challenging area when presenting a product that utilises an unknown technology and is fundamentally different from its competitors. ISO 9001:2008 – Quality management systems is considered to be a benchmark of quality across all manufacture and conformance with it can ease the process of certification. It specifies requirements for a quality management system where an organisation:

• needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide product that meets customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, and

• aims to enhance customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for continual improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

Other international standards, such as ISO 14001:2004 – Environmental management systems, although not directly related to the manufacture of fuel cells, can help instil good practices that can make the certification process easier.

2.1 Europe

A CE mark is a mandatory conformity mark for products to be sold in the European Economic Area. It confirms that a product conforms with all of the EC directives applicable to it. In some instances a user may self-certify; in others, particularly where a product is of potential danger, a Notified Body (an organisation accredited by an EU Member State to assess products against directives) must certify the product.

2.2 North America

Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories (NRTL) are testing facilities recognised by the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) to provide product safety testing and certification services to manufacturers with testing done to US consensus-based product safety test standards; they are similar to Notified Bodies in the EU.

Case studies of companies who have successfully certified and are selling products in the fuel generation, small stationary, large stationary and portable sectors are presented later in this Review.

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ITM Power designs and manufactures electrolysers for hydrogen production. Based in Sheffield, UK with a staff of ~60 the company has been trialling its hydrogen vehicle refueller with a number of major organisations across the UK and has recently made good developments in the power density of its MEA and the purity of the hydrogen its electrolysers produce. The company is entering a number of collaborations to raise its profile and is expanding its presence into Germany, where hydrogen adoption is gaining momentum.

First attemptFor a new company releasing its first commercial products it is difficult to know the full spread of EU directives that may affect the product; some are obvious, others are not, but all must be taken into account from the very beginning of product design right through to manufacture.

For inexperienced companies this may not be immediately apparent, and for ITM it was an expensive lesson to learn. Having designed processes and products that, to the best of its knowledge, satisfied all appropriate directives, ITM recruited a Notified Body to certify them. In the process of CE marking, Notified Bodies are authorised to approve (or disapprove) a product against EU directives and are a requirement when certifying products of potential risk such as electrolysers. Unfortunately for ITM, the certification process brought to light directives that it had not known were applicable to its products and they were subsequently refused certification.

In order to gain accreditation and certification ITM had to take its manufacturing process back to the drawing board. It learnt an important lesson during this time: every process must be compatible across the company, traceable and reproducible.

Approaching certification againITM began by implementing integrated software at its factory line, digitising as many processes as possible to guarantee traceability and reproducibility. Components are designed in a suite of CAD packages then fed into simulators to create a bill of materials (BOM) – a list of the materials, assemblies, components, parts, and quantities thereof needed to manufacture an end product. Such processes are industrial standards and their adoption at ITM allowed the company to achieve ISO 9001 Quality Management Standard accreditation. In its restructuring of its manufacturing process ITM also attained ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standard and OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety.

After its initial failings in certifying its products ITM enlisted the help of Gastec at CRE Limited to establish all European directives and regulations relevant to its products. Gastec is an agency specialising in testing, certifying, and providing training, for solid fuel, oil and gas appliances. With respect to CE Marking, Gastec provides consultation for companies that manufacture or import gas appliances that fall under the essential requirements of the European Gas Directive (90/396/EEC). Gastec undertook a pre-assessment audit of the prototype systems and produced a report for ITM identifying applicable directives, routes forward and likely issues; ITM would keep Gastec as a consultant throughout the entire certification process.

Case Study: ITM Power and the Road to Certification

European Directives affecting ITM products HPac HBox HFlame HFuel

PED: Pressure Equipment Directive (97/23/EC) � � �

LVD: Low Voltage Directive (2006/95/EC) � �

MD: Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC) � �

ATEX: Explosive Atmospheres Directives (94/9/EC & 99/92/EC)

� � � �

EMC: Electromagnetic Compatibility (2004/108/EC) � � � �

Marked Products

HPac

HFla

me

HBox

HFue

l

JAN

UARY

201

1M

ARCH

201

1M

ARCH

201

1JA

NUA

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012 Technical file

With requirements and limitations of applicable Directives accounted for, the product prototypes were suitably adapted and a technical file assembled for each. Technical files are the primary resource necessary for certification and include the following:• General description• List of applicable directives• Evidence of compliance with directives• Standards checklists• Risk assessment• Detailed engineering drawings and calculations• Images of product• Test reports and Essential Health & Safety

Requirements (EHSR) checklist• Instruction manuals

• List of safety critical parts• Safety data sheets• Sales literature• Declaration of conformity

A statement of compliance to all relevant directives that pulls together the most pertinent parts of the technical file, identifies the Notified Body involved and the manufacturer, who signs the document. This is the final stage in applying for accreditation.

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2012 Fuel Cell RCS ReviewConsultation from Day OneThere are only a handful of fully commerical FCH products on the market; as such there is simply not enough freely available general knowledge for hydrogen and fuel cell start-upstogoitaloneontheroadtocertification.Completingmanystepstobedefeatedatthelasthurdleisalossofbothmoneyandtime,asITMdiscovered.Continuousconsultationwithahydrogenorgasexperiencednotifiedbodyor agency can ease the process greatly.

Demonstration before CommercialisationA lesson worth taking from HOST is that a product does not need to be certified to bedemonstrated, whether as large as an HFuel or as small as a portable electronics charger. Demonstratingaproductandgaininginterestcan secure investment for a thorough and correctapproachtocertification.

Giving BackThelegislativelandscapeforhydrogenandfuelcells is continuously evolving and companiescan help to shape its future through activeinvolvementwithdomesticand internationalcommittees and organisations such as BSI,ISO/TC 197 and IEC/TC 105. This will aid both future product introductions and overallmarket expansion.

Key Points

HOST: Hydrogen On Site TrialsHOSTwas and is an ambitious programme that sees 21 commercial partners trialhydrogenvansandITM’sHFuelrefuellerattheirsites;HOSThasbeenacontinuouslearning curve for ITM. As the first such trial of its kind in the UK, little guidancewas available – although regulations for flammable gas systems are well defined,regulationsforhydrogenrefuellingarelessset,lesserstillformobilerefuellers.

CEcertificationisnotarequirementwhendemonstratingaproduct,onlywhensellingitintheEU.However,ITMalwaysintendedtoselltheproductafterdemonstrationsodesigned HFuel with compliance in mind. Requirements for each stage of installing an HFuelunitweretakenintoconsideration:

Moving abroad: entering the German marketGermany has become a world leader in the adoption of hydrogen technologies,particularlyintheautomotivesector,andwithoutadoubtoffersthemostimmediateearly FCEV market in Europe. ITM Power wants to capitalise on this by scaling up its HFuelproductand introducing it to theGermanmarketwithhopesof adoption inemerginghydrogenclustersacross the country. Theproposedfilling stationwouldproduce100kgofhydrogenperday,withstoragepotentialof260kg,dispensingatboth 350 and 700 bar.

Thecompany isworkingwithTÜVSÜDtofinalise local regulationrequirements forHFuel, and HOSTING – Hydrogen On-Site Trials IN Germany – will begin once UK trials have closed. The trials aim to raise the profile of ITM in Germany and prove to amultitudeofconsumersthatitselectrolysertechnologyisaneconomicalandreliablechoice for FCEV/HICE deployment.

Desi

gn

• ISO 22734-1:2008 Hydrogen generators using water electrolysis process – Part 1: Industrialandcommercialapplications

• HAZOP study• ATEXdirectives• UKHealthandSafetyExecutive(HSE)compliance

Tran

spor

t • TransportablePressureEquipmentDirective(1999/36/EC)• ConsultationwiththeUKDepartmentforTransportDangerousGoodsDivision• EuropeanAgreementconcerningtheInternationalCarriageofDangerousGoods

by Road (ADR)

Sitin

g

• Local health and safety requirements• Consultationwithlocalfireservices• NFPA2:HydrogenTechnologiesCode(USCodebutinternationallyrelevant)• BritishCompressedGasesAssociation(BCGA)CodeofPractice33:TheBulkStorageof

Gaseous Hydrogen at Users’ Premises (2005)

Ope

ratio

n • ISO/TS20100:2008Gaseoushydrogen–Fuellingstations• ISO/TS14687-2:2008Hydrogenfuel–Productspecification–Part2:Protonexchange

membrane(PEM)fuelcellapplicationsforroadvehicles• NFPA 2: Hydrogen Technologies Code

ArecentcontractfortheprovisionofanHFuelsystemtotheUniversityofNottinghamhas given ITM the opportunity to standardise its HFuel design and have it CE marked. This allows the hydrogen refuelling system to be sold throughout the European Union withrelativeeaseandlendsitselftoFCEVfleettrialsandtheestablishmentofhydrogenclusters or highways. ITM will also be expanding the principle of HOST in the form of HFuel Here – targeted at event organisers, the programme aims to easily facilitate FCEV/HICE ride’n’drives at conferences and events through the lease of HFuel, while at thesametimeexpandingbrandawarenessforITM.

Thenextstep:permittinghydrogenITM Power learned a great deal about the complexities of trying to comply in an ever-evolving legislative and regulative landscapethrough certifying its products. Frustrated bya lack of engagement from regulatory bodies during its journey, ITM is now feeding back into the legislativeworldasamemberof twoBSI (British Standards Institution) committeesthat feed directly into the ISO and IEC technical committeesthatgovernhydrogenandfuelcellinternationalstandards.BSIPVE/3/8GASCONTAINERS–HYDROGENTECHNOLOGIES

↕ISO/TC197–HYDROGENTECHNOLOGIES

BSI GEL/105 FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGIES↕

IEC TC/105 FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGIES

ITM set a good example of giving back to the wider community through sharing of experiences; it is important for companies to contribute to such activities where they can,as without proper, fair standards for the use of hydrogen gas and fuel cell technologies, widespread market development will be next to impossible.

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3. Developments in Transportation, Fuel and Infrastructure

In September 2009, seven of the world’s major automakers signed a letter of understanding to begin commercial sales of FCEV from 2015, urging for the development of hydrogen infrastructure primarily in Europe, and especially in Germany, to allow this market introduction. In January 2011 ten Japanese oil and energy companies signed an MOU with Toyota, Honda and Nissan agreeing to deploy 100 hydrogen stations across four major metropolitan areas in Japan for 2015.

This middle-of-the-decade date has been used loosely before but is now a real commitment; Hyundai and Daimler are even ahead of schedule with initial production runs beginning in 2013 and 2014, respectively. As such we can see a notable decline in FCEV demonstration deployments as automakers focus their resources on commercialisation. Widespread adoption of these vehicles will rely on many conditions, but most significantly on the following: social acceptance, fuelling infrastructure and local legalities. Europe, Japan and the United States will all be key launch markets from 2015.

3.1 Accepting Hydrogen as a Fuel

Hydrogen needs to be certified as safe before it can be offered for public sale. Once an item is on sale, the average consumer tends to trust that the product is safe, and rightly so; this is one of the core purposes of RCS. Conventional fuels have the potential to be hazardous in a number of ways (ignition, explosion, ingestion, etc), as does hydrogen, but in the setting of a regulated refuelling station environment the safety is barely a consideration for the car owner, and the case will be the same with hydrogen dispensers once they propagate.

The ideal goal for hydrogen refuelling would be a global set of standards, applicable anywhere regardless of regional and local variations; a benefit that may come with increased economies of scale but one that would be challenging to reach due to its breadth. More immediately, there currently exist international standards of varying maturity and hydrogen stations are opening in increasing numbers year-on-year across the globe. There are many barriers on the road to a complete global hydrogen refuelling infrastructure but progress is being made.

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3.2 Global Standards

ISO and IEC are developing standards for fuel cells and hydrogen across all applications, including transportation and infrastructure; also developing

fuel cell and hydrogen standards in this sector is SAE International. SAE, the Society of Automotive

Engineers, is a global association of nearly 130,000 engineers and technical experts in the aerospace,

automotive and commercial vehicle industries; like the WSC, a core competency is voluntary-consensus standards development. This platform allows for all automotive stakeholders, including the ISO, to be involved in the development of new industry standards; SAE has published more than 1,600 standards used in the passenger car industry.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is the secretariat of the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations, which creates technical standards that anyone in the world can use. Perhaps its most famous work is the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC); a test cycle used throughout the automotive industry that simulates the typical usage of a European car to benchmark emissions levels and fuel economies of passenger vehicles. The Forum’s current work is the result of a 1958 agreement amongst signatory states that formed a legal framework where a common set of UNECE regulations for type-approval of vehicles and components are agreed upon. When an item is approved in one signatory state, the approval is accepted by all other signatory states. This reciprocal recognition means a vehicle need only be approved once for sale across many countries. Many countries that are not participants of the 1958 Agreement still recognise UNECE regulations and will permit their use; notable exceptions to this are the USA and Canada. Non-European signatories include Japan, South Korea, Thailand, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. A further agreement in 1998 established a procedure for the development of global technical regulations (GTR); to date there are a total of twelve, covering areas such as health, safety, environmental performance and energy efficiency.

3.2.1 Hydrogen Refuelling Stations

SAE J2601 Fueling Protocols for Light Duty Gaseous Hydrogen Surface Vehicles (2010) establishes safety limits and performance requirements for gaseous hydrogen fuel dispensers; this is the fuel cell industry standard for the construction of hydrogen refuelling stations (HRS). The criteria include maximum fuel temperature at the dispenser nozzle, the maximum fuel flow rate, the maximum rate of pressure increase and other performance criteria based on the cooling capability of the station’s dispenser. Guidelines are given for both communication and non-communication fuelling; in communication fuelling specified information is transmitted from the vehicle and verified at the dispenser. This follows the International Standard ISO/TS 20100:2008 Gaseous hydrogen – fuelling stations, which is currently under revision.

SAE J2600 Compressed Hydrogen Surface Refueling Connection Devices (2002) was published eight years before J2601 and defines the hydrogen refuelling nozzle and receptacles seen on all current HRS and FCEV. It covers pressures from 250 to 700 bar and specifies refuelling interfaces which:

1. Prevent hydrogen fuelled vehicles from being refuelled by dispenser stations with Working Pressures higher than the vehicle

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2. Allow hydrogen vehicles to be refuelled by dispenser stations with Working Pressures equal to or lower than the vehicle fuel system Working Pressure

3. Prevent hydrogen fuelled vehicles from being refuelled by other compressed gases dispensing stations

This standard was driven primarily by automotive OEMs and was later incorporated into the International Standard ISO 17268:2006 Compressed hydrogen surface vehicle refuelling connection devices.

3.2.2 Hydrogen Vehicle Fuel

ISO/TS 14687-2:2008 and SAE J2719 (2005/2011) provide hydrogen fuel quality standards for PEM FCEV. The purity requirements in the International Standard, and the Draft International Standard (DIS) revision that is currently in circulation, are extremely exacting – automakers require this level of reassurance as even trace contaminants can damage a car’s fuel cell stack. The ISO targets for two contaminants in hydrogen fuel are set below the levels of detection currently achieved by the UK National Physical Laboratory (UK NPL), as can be seen in Figure 2. This is a problem not isolated to the UK NPL and it represents a barrier to certification: hydrogen will not be allowed to be sold to vehicles unless it can be proven that it meets the ISO thresholds. The UK NPL and a group of partners were able to develop a new suite of analytical methods in August 2011 that showed electrolytically-produced hydrogen requires little purification to meet the demands of the DIS. This is a step in the right direction but more must be done to advance the quality of detection methods and apparatus before the commercialisation of FCEV from 2015.

SAE J2579 Technical Information Report for Fuel Systems in Fuel Cell and Other Hydrogen Vehicles (2008/2009) defines the design, construction, operational, and maintenance requirements for hydrogen storage and handling systems in on-road vehicles. ISO/TS 15869:2009 (awaiting revision) describes land vehicle fuel tanks and gaseous hydrogen and hydrogen blends.

3.2.3 Safety, Best Practices, Other

SAE J2578 (2002/2009) gives recommended practice for general fuel cell vehicle safety, ISO/TR 15916:2004 provides basic considerations for the safety of hydrogen systems.

Further SAE standards exist for performance testing, measuring fuel consumption and range, stack recycling, as well as correct terminology for FCEV and pressure.

SAE International has further standards under development, most significantly versions of J2601 fuelling protocols for heavy duty gaseous hydrogen surface vehicles and hydrogen powered industrial trucks. ISO standards are cyclical and several are under revision to incorporate technological advances and changes.

Figure 2: ISO targets and UK NPL detection limits 2

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3.3 European Union

European market development for the deployment of fuel cell powered vehicles is beginning to gain traction and there have been a series of positive developments over the last few years. On the 26th April 2010 the European Commission passed Regulation (EU) No 406/2010 implementing Regulation

(EC) No 709/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on type-approval of hydrogen-powered motor vehicles. Effective from 7th June 2010 and applicable to all member states, 406/2010 enforced and supplemented the previously proposed 79/2009.

Every motor vehicle intended for the carriage of goods or passengers in an EU Member State must comply with relevant technical requirements for its type as dictated by EC Directives collated in a harmonised type-approval; this type-approval method is supported by the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations. Work from this forum is popular with the EC as it can be referenced in a regulation or Directive; this referencing allows changes to be made without having to renavigate the EU law-making process.

406/2010 contains precise definitions relating to FCEV components and structure, administrative provisions for type-approval, and type approval marks (right), as well as a comprehensive

list of existing legislation designed with conventionally-fuelled cars in mind, which will need to be amended in light of FCEV. The document also actions transitional provisions to exempt FCEV until such amendments are

made. The document offers a complete type-approval structure for member states to use. This legislation paves the way for the commercial sale of FCEV within the EU by creating a type-approval as exacting and demanding as that applicable to conventionally-fuelled

vehicles. Suzuki’s Burgman fuel cell scooter (left) was the first fuel cell vehicle of any kind to obtain European Whole Vehicle Type Approval

(WVTA) in March 2011.

Despite some positive developments, the real-world deployment of FCEV today in the EU and elsewhere can still be a laborious and unpredictable process. During the construction of hydrogen refuelling stations for use during the HyFLEET:CUTE European fuel cell bus demonstration programme each station had to be licensed individually with local authorities, many of whom had no, or little, prior experience with hydrogen. In the absence of hydrogen-specific standards a mix of the following were used: CNG (compressed natural gas) standards, standards for industrial hydrogen plants and hydrogen standards from outside the EU.

For each site there was a period of six to eighteen months between first talks with authorities and obtaining permits. In the most prohibitive example, a campaigner managed to delay approval by several weeks after persuading the local authority that any hydrogen leaked would permeate through the ground and contaminate the groundwater. Evidently there is a need for education and outreach, particularly to decision makers, and this is an area that the FCH-JU (Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking [the organising body for the distribution of EC funding]) funds through a variety of projects.

Fuel Cell Today


3.4 North America

In the USA there are federal rules and regulations for safety, emissions and many other product considerations. These are published daily in the Federal Register before being codified and held within the Code of Federal Regulations, which is updated annually and divided into fifty broad subject matters.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has congressional authority to establish and enforce Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) for vehicle safety, security and fuel economy. A subdivision of the Department of Transportation, it is also responsible for the licensing of vehicle manufacturers and importers. In the USA vehicle manufacturers self-certify their compliance with all applicable FMVSS. This negates the need for type approval and ensures compliance through an onerous set of penalties and remedies in case of breach.

In regards to the acceptance of FCEV on US roads, NHTSA co-sponsors the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations’ Working Group on Hydrogen. The working group is aiming to develop a GTR that attains equivalent levels of safety to those for conventional vehicles, and that is performance-based and does not restrict future technologies.

Until FMVSS specifically detailing requirements for FCEV are established an automaker must simply comply with all existing applicable FMVSS in order to self-certify. In some ways this is simpler than the UNECE model of type approval. FMVSS 303 Fuel System Integrity of Compressed Natural Gas Vehicles and 304 Compressed Natural Gas Container Integrity are the most relevant at present, as they deal with the use of a compressed gaseous fuel – one of the primary differences between FCEV and conventional vehicles.

Honda, Daimler and General Motors have had vehicles running on US roads for several years; one must assume the NHTSA is satisfied with their safety.

3.4.1 Canada

In respect to the automotive industry and generally speaking, Canada will follow the regulations, codes and standards adopted in the USA as the vast majority of cars sold in the country are American models. It has its own version of FMVSS, Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations, and automakers self-certify against them as in the USA. Canada has been proactive in the development of fuel cells and has seen several successful bus trials, but it is not considered an early launch market for FCEV. Adoption in North America will be led by California and guidelines in other regions, including Canada, are likely to cascade from it over time as FCEV infiltration increases.

Fuel Cell Today


3.5 Japan

Japan is a key early market for the introduction of FCEV and has been a keen pursuer of the technology for many years, in large parts thanks to proactive domestic OEMs Honda, Nissan and Toyota. The three carmakers are members of a larger industry grouping, HySUT. The Research Association of Hydrogen Supply/Utilization Technology (HySUT) comprises eighteen companies and organisations, including gas suppliers and engineering associations. Established in July 2009, its aim is to establish hydrogen supply infrastructure in Japan and improve the hydrogen business environment.

HySUT member JPEC (the Japan Petroleum Energy Center) commissioned German regulator TÜV-SÜD to review the technical requirements and applicable regulations and standards for licensing, constructing and operating hydrogen refuelling stations in Germany and Europe. The results of this study are being used to guide revisions of Japan’s legal regulations for hydrogen refuelling stations. The Japanese government’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) encouraged the work and, alongside HySUT, is hoping to advance the establishment of a national network of 700 bar hydrogen refuelling stations. By aligning themselves more closely with the European market, the Japanese stakeholders are making steps towards a unified market for FCEV.

A revised Japanese commercial hydrogen station specification is to be demonstrated within the 2012 fiscal year by HySUT with the launch of two new hydrogen stations in Nagoya and Ebina. Demonstration is an important step in the development of RCS as it proves real-world viability. The stations will be used to test and evaluate commercial operation, equipment specifications, licensing procedures, and construction.

Both of the sites will also serve as petrol stations supplying gasoline to incumbent vehicles. The ability to install hydrogen pumps at existing petrol stations offers an advantageous infrastructure build-up model as these are already situated in strategic locations across the country. Unclear and over-compensative hydrogen setback distances have been a hindrance to this model in the past, particularly in Japan, where domestic standards can often lean towards the over-cautious.

Two different station formats are to be evaluated. At the Ebina station, hydrogen will be reformed and compressed to 450 bar off-site and trucked to the station for further compression, storage and dispensing. At the Nagoya station LPG is trucked to the station with reforming and compression taking place on-site. The Ebina station will offer 350 and 700 bar refuelling, Nagoya will offer just 700 bar.

Nag

oya Eb

ina

Fuel Cell Today


Formed in 1995, ReliOn (Avista Labo-ratories, Inc. until 2004) is a devel-oper and marketer of PEM fuel cells foravarietyofbackuppower,off-gridandgridsupportapplications,includ-ing uninterruptible power supplies(UPS) and emergency power. ReliOn has sold and delivered more than 4,600 kW of fuel cells globally to a broad range of customers, including major telecoms, government commu-nicationsitesandutilities.

CertifyingondemandReliOntooktheapproachofcertifyingproductsonlyasnecessaryfordesiredmarketentry.Assuchitsfirstcommercialfuelcell,theIndependence500,launchedintheUSin2002,wascertifiedbyUnderwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) againstUS codes and standards. EuropeanCEcertificationfollowedin2003withaseparateproduct,the Independence1000;Chinesecertificationfollowedinsubsequentproductgenerations.

Certifyinginresponsetomarketdemandisatwo-sidedcoin:ononeside,itcanbeeconomicalandresourcefultoonlyprepareaproductforcertificationinanareaasdemandrequires;ontheotherthereisatimerisk–certificationcanbealengthyprocesswheremanyunforeseencomplicationscanarise:ifaproductisnotreadyforsalewhenmarketdemandrisesthenthemarketmaychooseanalternativeproductthat isalreadycertified.ForReliOncertifyingondemand has proven to be a successful decision, though this is not to say that the company did notexperiencechallengeswithcertification.

An early challenge for ReliOn came from its use of externally procured sub-components; in a numberofinstanceswhilstcertifyingproductswithULandtheCanadianStandardsAssociation(CSA)anexternalsub-componentfailedtomeetrequirements,resultingindelays.ReliOnnowworksmorecloselywithsupplierstopurchasecomponentsthathavealreadybeencertifiedwithtargetauthoritiesortoacquirecertificationfordesiredsub-components.

Fuel cells and industry standardsReliOn knew that its major end market would be telecoms backup and many of its customers requiredTelcordia(nowpartofEricsson)NEBStesting;assuchReliOnfamiliariseditselfwiththe stringent requirements and ensured its designs would meet them. NEBS, or Network Equipment-Building System, is the most common set of safety, spatial and environmentaldesign guidelines applied to telecommunications equipment in the United States. NEBSwasdeveloped in the1970s tosimplify thedesignanddeploymentof telecommunicationsequipment in the Bell System – Bell System was a near-monopoly that provided telephone servicetomuchoftheUSandCanadafrom1877to1984;NEBSisnowutilisedgloballyforarangeofcommercial,utilityanddefencecommunicationsapplications.

MeetingNEBSrequirementspresentedReliOnwithseveralchallengesinitsfuelcellcabinetdesign. For example, the fuel cell requires intake air in order to work, which means the cabinet cannotbewatertightbutitmustbeabletoresisthurricaneconditionsofwind-drivenrainanddesertconditionsofwind-blowndustandwildfire.ReliOnmodifiedcabinetdoorventingareasso that air could be exchanged but water, dust and excessive heat could not enter.

ReliOn’sfirstNEBStestingprocesstookoversixmonthstocomplete.Withlessonslearntanddesignmodificationsformulatedwitheachsubsequentround,testingnowtakesonlythreemonthsend-to-endwiththemajorityoftestingcompletedwithinaboutsixweeks.

Case Study: ReliOnandConformingwith Industry Standards

ReliOn works closely with its custom-erstotailorsolutionsthatmeetcus-tomers’ specific needs. Its E-seriesfuel cells are scalable backup power systems configurable from175W to20 kW in both indoor rack-mount-ed and outdoor enclosure options. E-1000x and E-2500x models are optimised for high duty cycle appli-cations and are intended to supportlow reliability electrical grids, or to provide power where there is no grid present at all.

Products

USbuildingpermitsandfiresafetyBuildingpermitsarerequiredforanyinstallationofequipmentatasiteintheUS,andthiscanbecomeaveryconvolutedandconfusedareawhenmovingfromjurisdictiontojurisdictionandstate tostate.Permits fromthe localfireauthorityor theauthorityhaving jurisdiction(AHJ – usually, but not necessarily, the municipality in which the site is located) are required fortheinstallationofanyequipmentthatusesorcontainsaflammableorhazardousmaterial.Thismayresultinrecommendedchangesthatmaydelayinstallations.

Conversely,afuelcell’sbenignemissionsandquietoperationcaninsomeinstancesallowittobeinstalledwherebuildingpermitsdisallowdieselgenerators,themostcommonalternative.Ultimatelyeaseofauthorisationwillalwaysvaryfromareatoarea.

Fuel Cell Today

2012 Fuel Cell RCS ReviewWork with common industry guidelinesIndustry-wide guidelines such as NEBS provide asolidstartingpointinthedesignofaproductand should be considered as early in the design phase as possible. This will save costly delays and reworks later on.

Compliance throughout the supply chainIt is important to work closely with suppliers to ensure that components provided to you matchtherequirementsoftheauthoritiesyouaimtocertifywith.

Encourage novel fuel supply methodsEnsuring a reliable fuel supply is one of the most important factors in the deployment of a stationary fuel cell. ReliOn found ways toutiliseandadaptexistingmethodsaswellasstimulatethedevelopmentofnewlightweightrefuelling trucks.

Key Points

NFPA55:CompressedgasesandcryogenicfluidscodeNFPA55isastandardbytheNationalFireProtectionAssociation(NFPA)thatdefinesrequirementsfortheuseandstorageofcompressedflammablegases;itisapplicabletothemajorityofstationaryfuelcellapplicationsintheUS.NFPA55isnotalegalcode,thoughitmaybeadoptedasonebyajurisdictionorsimplyusedasareference;assuch,fragmentationofthecodeoccurs–NFPA55isupdatedandrepublishedapproximatelyeveryfiveyearsbytheNFPAbutalegalcodewillbebasedonasingleeditionofthecodeandmaynotbeupdatedtoreflectchangesinlatereditions.Outdatedlegalcodesmay slow fuel cell adoption in certain jurisdictions. For example, the 2006 editiondefinedsetbackdistancesforcompressedflammablegasbasedonthequantityofgas;the2010editiondefinesitonthepressureatwhichthegasisstoredandthediameterofthepipingthroughwhichthegascanescape,withnolimitonquantity.

Many of these challenges are not unique to fuel cells and apply to any deployment ofequipmentatsuchsites;theintroductionofanoveltechnologyandfueldoesnotchange the rules, it simply adds a level of unfamiliarity for stakeholders. However, the useofacompressedflammablegasdoessubjecthydrogenfuelcellstomorestringentrequirementsthanitstraditionalcompetitors.

Supplying hydrogenFuelsupplyisasimportantasfuelcellinstallation;thetwoarecompletelyintrinsic.However,introducingandacceptinganewfuelintoanapplicationorareacanprovelogisticallychallenging.ReliOnutilisestwomodelsforhydrogensupply:packagedgas(cylinderexchange)andrefillablefixedstorage.Approximately80%sitesarepackagedgasand20%arerefillable,thoughrefillableisgainingpopularity.

PackagedConventionalsteelcylindersareinstalledinahydrogencabinetimmediatelyadjacenttothefuelcellandexchangedwhenempty.Hydrogencylinderdistributionisavailablefromanumberofcompetitivepackagedgasproviders(Linde,AirProducts,AirLiquide)intheUSAandmanyothercountries;hydrogengascylindershavebeendeliveredtoindustrialandresearchsitesfordecadesandtheRCSandlogisticsof this is well understood and accepted. In the USA hydrogen gas costs $8–$10 per 100 standard cubic feet. Under this method of supply expanded use of hydrogen does not require a new delivery system to be established, something that can get caught in regulatory delays.

RefillableReliOn’s second supply method combines a hydrogen storage module (HSM) with bulk delivery of non-packaged hydrogen by truck. The HSM is a larger cylinder-containing lockable fuel cabinet with the necessary interface, pressure gauges and valves to support refuelling. Theinterfaceissimilartothatusedintheautomotivefuelcellindustry,thoughmechanicsensurethataconnectionwillonlybemadewithahosethatidentifiesatthecorrectfillingpressure.Thismethodbenefitsfromfasterrefuelling,asmultiplehigh-pressureconnectionsdonotneedtobedis/reconnected,andtheuseofasingleconnectionreducessystemleaks.

Bulk delivery of hydrogen is common in industry, where it is used as a process gas in areas such as petroleum processing, metal treatment, hydrogenationandsemiconductormanufacturing.Suchend-usersaretypicallylocatedonindustrialsiteswithappropriateaccessforlargevehicles and a good surrounding road infrastructure, allowing for delivery of hydrogen by lorry.

Sites that require emergency power supplies do not necessarily conform to these requirements; sites may be urban, suburban, and in the caseoftelecomsbasestations,ruralandremote.Ruralandremotebasestationsarelikelytohaveterrainandaccessroutesofaqualitytoopoortoallowtheuseofconventionalbulkrefuellingvehicles.Insuchinstancesspecialiseddeliveryvehiclesneedtobeimplemented.

Insomecasesexistingvehiclescanberetrofittedwithlongerhoses(upto75feet)withtheappropriaterefuellinginterface.Althoughappropriate for some locales these vehicles, with trailer and truck rig, can weigh up to 30 tonnes, making them unusable in areas with soft roads and unforgiving terrain. The alternative here is a smaller truck with a lightweight chassis fitted with composite cylinders insteadofthetraditionalsteel–composite isfar lighterandallowsforhigherpressurestorage.Thesmallersizeandlighterweight of vehicle allow access to themajority of remote locations thatwould challenge a retrofitted vehicle. Furthermore, vehiclelightnessresults inabetterfueleconomyanda loweroperatingexpenditure;thishelpstooffsetthecapitalexpenditureof investing in new refuelling vehicles.

Fuel Cell Today


4. Developments in Stationary Applications

Thousands of stationary fuel cell units are currently in use across the world. In 2012 alone Fuel Cell Today anticipates global shipments of nearly 25,000 units. Fuel cells perform most strongly in areas where extremely high reliability and/or an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) are crucial, such as backup power for telecommunications base stations and data centres. Stationary fuel cells can vary in size from less than a kilowatt to many megawatts, and have found application in a wide variety of markets, each with different demands.

The majority of the stationary units installed fall into three applications: systems between 1–20 kW for UPS and backup power applications, small residential combined heat and power (CHP) systems of 0.5–2 kW for home use, and larger systems for commercial and industrial prime power. All of these applications already have RCS structures, within which a fuel cell product must comply. Because stationary fuel cells are displacing technologies of similar function which, importantly, run on the same or similar fuels, there is not as strong a push for tailored RCS.

There has been a pull for systems in several countries through government policies and subsidisation. This is explored in more depth in our 2012 Industry Review.

4.1 Uninterruptible Power Supplies

Generally speaking, UPS systems are not operated by untrained staff and are usually fenced or isolated in some manner; public interaction (and interference) is not a concern. The systems mostly run from bottled gas, a well-defined storage mechanism, and displace gas engines, diesel gensets or battery systems, for which RCS is already defined. As ReliOn discovered (see case study on page 14), the barriers to overcome for fuel cell UPS are in the application-specific RCS, not that pertaining to the technology.

Fuel Cell Today


4.2 Prime Power

Many prime power systems run off natural gas; the benefit of utilising an existing, regulated fuel supply cannot be overstated. Like UPS applications, prime power systems can only be operated by trained personnel and are generally located in secure areas. These factors mean that RCS has not been a significant barrier to the adoption of prime power systems. Many megawatts of capacity are installed in the USA, and there is an exponentially growing demand in South Korea, driven predominantly by its Renewable Portfolio Standard policy.

Nedstack, profiled on page 18, chose a more unusual application in the use of industrial by-product hydrogen as a fuel for its 1 MW plant in Belgium. Nonetheless, the chemical site at which it was placed was adept at handling hydrogen and Nedstack was able to meet all the necessary requirements for its system to be certified and successfully exploited a niche demand.

4.3 Domestic CHP

Japan’s Ene-Farm scheme has been one of the world’s most successful fuel cell projects. At the beginning of 2012, more than 20,000 subsidy-supported units had been installed in Japan. RCS has not been a barrier to adoption here and it is clear why: the units run on the same town gas the boilers they are displacing do – so long as the fuel cell is certified and complies with existing boiler regulations, RCS should not be a prohibitive factor. This principle is true in a global context as well. Domestic fuel cells with external reformers can break the definition of a boiler in some locales, but the majority of domestic fuel cell systems available today have integrated reformers.

Fuel Cell Today


The Plant

LOCATION:Solvay Chlorine Plant, Lillo, Belgium

SPECIFICATION:12 fuel cell modules12,600 cells in 168 stacks1 MW power output1 MW by-product heat output

BENEFIT:AllowsSolvaytoself-generate20%ofitselectricityconsumptionandvaloriseitshydrogen waste stream.

Nedstack is one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of PEM fuel cells and was established in 1998 as a spinoffof AkzoNobel – a major paints and coatings company and a globalproducer of speciality chemicals. Based in Arnhem, the Netherlands, Nedstack is now a privately owned and independent company. The majority of Nedstack’s business comes from the selling of stacks to system integrators, but the company has recently entered the chlor-alkali industry under its own nameinaseriesofcollaborations.

Decision to enter the chlor-alkali marketNedstackfindsitselfinauniqueposition:awhollyindependentfuelcellstackmanufacturer,but with some grounding in the process industries from its development as a spinoffof AkzoNobel. The chlor-alkali industry produces chlorine and caustic soda throughthe electrolysis of brine with hydrogen gas produced as a by-product. Nedstack saw an opportunityforthelarge-scaleutilisationoftheby-producthydrogentoproduceelectricityand heat on site with customers that already deal with hydrogen on a day-to-day basis.

In 2007 Nedstack installed a 70 kW PEMFC at an AkzoNobel chlor-alkali plant in Delfzijl to testtheversatilityofitsstacksandtheviabilityoffuelcellsolutionsatchlor-alkaliplants.The resultswerepromising – the systemhasnow surpassed24,000hoursof operation– so Nedstack decided that it would scale up the system and aim to produce a 1 MW unit. Chemical group Solvay approached Nedstack, and together with the WaterstofNet fundedthedevelopmentofa1MWsystemforinstallationatSolvay’sLillochlorineplant, close to Antwerp.

RCS and system designNedstack has had its stack designs with 10 to 75 individual cells CE marked since November 2008. The stacks were assessed by Kiwa Gastec and fulfilledthe requirements of standard EN 62282 (2004) Fuel cell technologies – Part 2: Fuel Cell Modules with Amendment A1 (2007) and are in conformance with the European Directive 2006/95/EC: Low VoltageDirective.Its1MWplantiscomposedof168individualstacks, all CE marked, so when it came to CE marking the plant as awhole the taskwas greatly simplified.MTSA Technopower, a specialist machine manufacturer assembled and CE marked the plant as a whole.

Nedstack performed a HAZOP study on its plant designincollaborationwithSolvayandMTSA.HAZOP,or hazard and operability study, is a structured and systematic qualitative technique for systemexamination and riskmanagement – oftenused as atechniqueforidentifyingpotentialhazardsinasystembyateamofatleastfivepeople,theleaderofwhichhas previous HAZOP experience but was not involved in the design of the system. Although HAZOP studies can be expensive, they can ease the certification ofa system and it was an important step for Nedstack. The company also followed basic good engineering practices through the use of proper ventilation andhydrogen sensors.

Case Study: Nedstackand Meetinga Niche Demand

Fuel Cell Today


Close customer interactionThe company took thetime towork closelywith its customer from the very beginning of the process. This guaranteed that the product would meet the customer’s requirements exactly. Although such close working relationshipswillnotbepossible forall fuelcell manufacturers, the mantra of valuing customerinvolvementisworthadopting.

Unique niche and experienced partnersNedstack found a novel route to market by entering an area where the customer base is experienced in handling hydrogen. A significant barrier to adoption in otherapplicationsisthetrainingofcustomersandthe overcoming of the perceived dangers in using hydrogen; Nedstack chose MTSA to certifytheplantasithadpreviousexperiencewith hydrogen. By choosing a unique niche Nedstack gains a competitive first moveradvantage; Nedstack has experience in this niche, but it should be kept in mind that when entering an unknown niche there can be littlesupportandsuchfirstmovesareoftencalculated risks.

Thorough testing at every stageIn an area where capital costs of products arestillhighitiswisetotrytominimisethenumberofpotentialmistakesor setbacks intheprocess.Testingapilotplant,performingaHAZOP study and using hydrogen-experienced certifiersensuresquality,thoughasNedstacklearnt,testingoftheentireapplicationonsiteisstillnecessary–includinganycomponentsor interfaces from other bodies, such as hydrogen feed pipes.

Installing the systemThe fuel cell system was installed in two large shipping containers at the Solvay site.Withregardtolocationandsafetydistances,theseweredefinedprimarilybySolvay’sengineersbutincollaborationwithNedstack,whohadexperiencefromitssmaller plant for Akzo. Nedstack was keen to stress that it had consciously entered a market where the customers were already adept at dealing with hydrogen at an industrial level.

By working closely with the customer from the beginning of the process, the customer’s needs could continuously be taken into account in the design andinstallationoftheplant,reducingdifficultiesintheinstallationprocess.ThebiggestsurpriseoftheentireprocessforNedstackcameafter installationwhentheunitwas first put into operation. Solvay’s hydrogen pipeline had not been properlycleaned and residues contaminated several components in the plant. Nedstack subsequentlyinstalledfilterstopreventanyreoccurrences.

ReplicatingeffortsWith the experience of the initial Akzo installation and this subsequent 1MWupscaled installation,Nedstack isconfidenttheengineeringapproachcansimplybeduplicatedforfutureinstallations.Solvay’sinstallationwasmoremodularthanmost would be as the company wanted to closely analyse individual cell and stack performance. These two factors mean that a future plant would be cheaper to manufacture.Nedstackisaimingtoreduceplantcostthroughdesignsimplificationtoapricethatwouldallowforapaybacktimeoflessthanfiveyears,somethingthecompanyseesascriticaltowidespreadadoption.

The installed system at Solvay’s Lillo plant

Key Points

Fuel Cell Today


SFC Energy is a manufacturer and distributor of portable DMFC systems and is well known for its EFOYline of multi-application portableauxiliary power unit (APU) direct methanol fuel cell systems. Founded in February 2000 and headquartered in Brunnthal-Nord, Germany with a staff of ~100, the company sellsits products globally and has seen great success in the European leisure market–particularlyintheprovisionof clean, quiet, off-grid hotel-loadpower for mobile homes and cabins.

SFC also sells advanced EFOY Prosystems into the industrial market and bespoke products into the military market. With over 23,000 fuel cell systems now sold, primarily to the leisure industry, SFC is one of the most commercially successful consumer fuel cell companies worldwide.

BeingthefirstmoverinasectorSFCwasoneofthefirstcompaniestocommercialiseaconsumerfuelcellproductinEuropewiththelaunchofitsEFOYsystemin2006.Beingthefirstmoverinanareacanbearisk,butitwasonethatprovedadvantageousforSFC;itisstillleadinginitsmarketmorethanfiveyearslater. Apart from market demand, part of SFC’s success has been through the simplicity of its solution.Thefuelcellissimplypackaged,withaneasytousecontrolpanelandaproprietaryfuelcartridgesystem;thesimplerasolution,themoreapproachableitistocustomers.

DefiningthevoidWith no other fuel cell products commercialised in its target niche, SFC had no point of referencewhen it came to regulationof its products. As such, very early on in the designphaseoftheEFOYSFCapproachedlocalGermanauditingandcertificationgroupTÜVSÜD,aNotifiedBodywithmanyyearsofhigh-pressuregasandfuelcellexperience,toensurethatwhencommercialisationcamecertificationwouldbesmooth.

ThecompaniesbuiltacloseworkingrelationshipthroughoutthedevelopmentoftheEFOY,beneficial toTÜV-SÜDaswellastoSFC–SFC’s fuelcellexpertisehelpedTÜV-SÜDdevelopanddefinestandards,andthisisanaspectlargerorganisationsshouldconsiderwhendecidingwhethertoconsultwithaNotifiedBodyduringproductdevelopment.Theregulatorylandscapefor fuelcells inEurope isamurkyone–fuelcellproductsmustmeetaseriesofdirectivesdesigned for other technologies, instead of a set of European or international standardstailoredforfuelcellproducts.KnowinghowtoapproachcertificationcanbetroublesomeandcollaboratingwithaNotifiedBodyoffersthedualbenefitofhighlightingbothstandardsanddirectives thataproductmustconformtoandareas inwhichstandardsare lacking.Activeinvolvement in the development of standards aids overall market growth but also ensures your fuelcelldesignsandapplicationsareincluded,easingfutureproductintroductions.

EuropeanCertificationSFC’sfuelcellsystemsweretestedin2006againstthecriteriaofthethendraftinternationalstandard (DIS) IEC 62282-5-1: Portable fuel cell power systems – Safety. Both the stack and completesystemweretested,aswellasSFC’sproductionandqualityassuranceprocesses.SFCandTÜVtestedtheconstruction,mechanicalstabilityanddurability,andtheelectrical,operatingandfunctionalsafetybeyondtherequirementsoftheDISwithaparticularfocusonuserprotection,especiallyinthehandlinganduseofthemethanolfuel.TheEFOYbecamethefirstfuelcellsystemtobeartheTÜVSÜD‘fuelcellsystem’octagonalqualityseal,confirmingitssafeoperationagainsttherequirementsofIEC62282-5-1;allSFCfuelcellproductsnowcarrytheseal.AswellastheDIS,SFCalsoworkedtoachieveconformitywithotherdirectivesandstandards that are common benchmarks of quality amongst manufacturers, including:• ISO 9001

Themostcommonqualitystandardindicatorformanufacturers,9001laysthefoundationsofcompliantproductmanufactureandisavitalfirststepontheroadtoconformityandcertificationinmanyareas.

• RoHSDirectiveEuropean Directive 2002/95/EContherestrictionoftheuseofcertain hazardous substances (RoHS) in electrical and electronic equipment is closely related to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment(WEEE)DirectiveandislawinallEUmemberstates.It restricts the use of the following substances: lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ether and acrylamide.

With TÜV’s quality assessment complete, SFC was able to self-certifyitsCEcompliance.

EFOY

EFOYCOMFO

RTEFOYPro

Case Study: SFC Energyand Pioneeringina Sector

Fuel Cell Today

2012 Fuel Cell RCS ReviewPartnering with authoritiesAs soon as it decided to develop a consumer product SFC approached local certifier TÜVand built a strong relationship that hasprovenmutuallybeneficial.Consultationwithcertifiers may seem a debatable cost at thevery beginning of project development but a smooth transition to commercialisation isinvaluable for many companies.

Representing interestsSFC does not directly sit on IEC and ISO working groups as some other fuel cell manufacturers do, but instead represents its interests through VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau – German Engineering Federation) and TÜV, who consults SFC forits opinion on a range of topics. VDMA is the largest engineering industry network in Europe. Participation in regulation settingis essential in these early days of fuel cellcommercialisation;noteverycompanyhastheexpertiseor resources to siton internationalworkinggroupsbutconsultingwithregulatorsand industry groups that do is a sound way to ensure your opinion and input are represented and recognised. This is an added benefit tobuildingarelationshipwithauthorities.

Fuel supplyThere’s no fuel cell without fuel. Taking steps to ensure that fuel will be available for your fuel cells is just as important as certifyingyour product and should be a considerationthroughoutthecommercialisationprocess.

NorthAmericanCertificationEFOYs are sold in the US and Canada and have been certified by TÜV America toconform to the requirements of:• –FederalCommunicationsCommission

AnindependentagencyoftheUSgovernment,thecommissionersofwhicharepresidentiallyappointed,thatregulatesinterstateandinternationalcommunicationsbyradio,television,wire, satellite and cable.

• – Underwriters Laboratories Inc.Anindependentproductsafetycertificationorganisationoperatinginnearly100countries,established in 1894 and headquartered in Illinois. UL develops standards for a range of electricalandindustrialapplications.

• –CanadianStandardsAssociationAnot-for-profitandindependentproviderofstandardsandadvisoryservices,establishedin1919 and headquartered in Ontario.

TÜVAmerica,ULandCSAareallNationallyRecognizedTestingLaboratories.Fuelcellproductscancausesmalllevelsofelectromagneticinterference;theEFOY’sconformitywiththeFCC,aseeminglypeculiarregulatortobeinvolvedinfuelcellcertification,iswith the agency’s Radio Frequency Interference guidelines. In the EU, fuel cell and electrolyserproductsmayneedtobetestedagainsttheElectromagneticCompatibility(EMC)Directive,asITMPowerdiscovered(seecasestudyonpage6).

FueldistributionCertifyingandsellingafuelcellproductisallwellandgood,butwhenthatproductrequiresanewfueltypethenavailabilitymustbeensured, otherwise the product is redundant. Methanol is generally perceived as easier to distribute and handle than hydrogen, but is notwithoutitsdifficulties.Methanolistoxicthroughinhalation,ingestionandcontactwiththeskinaswellasbeinghighlyflammable;assuchitiswidelybannedforconsumeruseunderitschemicalclassificationinmostmarkets.ThisissomethingthatSFCknewfromthebeginning of its product development and it tackled the issue in two ways:

• Dedicated fuel cartridgesSFC’sfuelsystemiscompletelyproprietary.ThefuelcellscanonlybefuelledwithSFC’scustomdesignedcartridges,whicharenon-refillableandhavespill-proofsafetyvalves.ThecartridgeshavebeentestedbyTÜVandfeaturetheGS(GeprüfteSicherheit,‘provensecurity’)seal.

• Classifying methanol as a fuelStrictrulesareappliedtochemicalsacrosstheworld;SFCengageswiththeregulationsettingauthoritiesinmanyofthemarketsitsellsinto,inEuropeandelsewhere,toeducateregulatorsaboutthetechnology,practicalityandapplicabilityofitsfuelcellsandthebenefitsofmethanolasafuel,allowingfor exceptions to, ormodificationof, regulations limiting theuseofmethanol.Most recently, Austrian regulationnow recognises SFC’smethanolcartridges as a fuel instead of a chemical.

SFChasdevelopedawidenetworkofdistributorsacross theglobe,withhundredsof locationsstocking thecompany’scustomfuelcartridges.EFOYownerscansearchforstockistsonanonlinemaporfindthoseclosesttothemusingSFC’sfreeappforiPhonesandiPads.SFCissettingtheprecedentforatrulyintegratedfuelcellandfuelsolutionintheconsumermarket.

EFOYInsideSFCtargetedtheEFOYatthecampingandleisuremarket;offeringitasanintegratedsolutioninamobilehomeoffersutmosteasetocustomers.In2010SFClaunchedtheEFOYReadyandEFOYInsideprogrammeforvehiclemanufacturers.

Vehicleswithpreinstalledelectricalcablesforbatteryconnectionandremotecontrol,allowingforeasyinstallationofanEFOYaftersale.

VehicleswithanEFOYsystempreinstalledandfullyintegrated.

To offer EFOY Inside SFC had to have the system type approved for vehicle use.The National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) tested the system against UN-ECE regulations and approved the unit against regulation R10 – electromagneticcompatibility.ReciprocalrecognitionmeansthatthistypeapprovalisrecognisedinallUNcontractingpartiestothe1958typeapprovalagreement.SignatoriesincludeallEuropean States, Ireland, Japan, Australia, Korea, South Africa and others. Notably it doesnotincludeUNmemberstheUSandCanada,whereUN-ECEregulationsarenotrecognisedandlocallawsandguidelinesmustbefulfilled.

Key Points

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5. Developments in Portable Applications

Portable fuel cells are expected to dominate fuel cell shipments for 2012 in the form of portable electronics chargers and it is this type of fuel cell that the majority of consumers are most likely to first experience. There have been three notable portable fuel cell product launches in 2011 and 2012, all of them portable electronics chargers. These products have all had to meet standards necessary to deem them fit for sale in the various locales they are targeting and the RCS for this application is already relatively well-defined.

An update to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) guidelines in 2009 allowing passengers to carry portable electronic devices powered by fuel cells and up to two spare cartridges has been a key enabler for the development of products such as portable electronics chargers.

Importantly, these micro fuel cell systems operate on hydrogen stored at low pressure or no pressure at all. This limits the level of RCS that needs to be applied to them in order for them to be considered safe for sale. Of the three fuel cell portable electronics chargers mentioned above, two run from powders that combine with water within the system to generate hydrogen; when not in use, neither the fuel cell nor the cartridges are at pressure. The third, the Horizon MiniPak, uses hydrogen stored in metal hydride cartridges with a rated charging pressure of 2.8 MPa (28 bar) – for contrast, an average hydrogen storage cylinder (as used in industry, laboratories and elsewhere) stores hydrogen at 150–200 bar.

ISO 16111:2008 Transportable gas storage devices – Hydrogen absorbed in reversible metal hydride defines the requirements applicable to the material, design, construction and testing of transportable metal hydride hydrogen storage systems under 200 bar, and the Horizon solution is fully compliant. IEC 62282-6-100 Micro fuel cell power systems – Safety (2010) establishes basic safety requirements for all micro fuel cell systems (and their associated cartridges) with power outputs less than 240 watts.

Larger portable fuel cells, for use as auxiliary power units (APU) for the leisure industry and for a variety of autonomous industrial applications such as remote sensing, were the first real commercial success story of the fuel cell industry and continue to thrive. The most notable of these products, and indeed most commercially successful, hasbeentheSFCEFOY,amethanol-fuelledsystemwhichhasbeenonsale since late 2006 (see case study on page 20).

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6. Lessons Learnt and Concluding Remarks

The fuel cell may have been around in principle since the early 1800s, but as a commercial technology it is still in its infancy. A framework of RCS to support the industry is emerging, but it itself must be supported by active engagement and input from those within the industry.

From all of the commercial case studies presented, one lesson is clear: consultation is key. The global legislative landscape is vast and it can be a difficult task identifying all the relevant RCS that may impact certification of your product, as was the case for ITM Power. Consulting with a Notified Body, NRTL or other authority that has experience with hydrogen or pressurised gases from the outset is the best way of ensuring a product that can be certified with ease; although an expensive process, it is less costly (in both money and time) than developing a product and then having to return to the drawing board.

Members of these authorities often sit in the working groups or technical committees of international standardisation organisations. If there is an apparent lack of appropriate RCS for your product, working closely with them to develop standards or modify existing ones, based around the requirements of your product, can be beneficial. It can aid market growth and will ensure that your designs and applications are standardised, easing future product introductions: a first mover advantage. Several companies that have certified products now have staff sitting on ISO and IEC technical committees, helping to shape future RCS.

If funds allow it can also be a good idea to demonstrate your product as widely as possible. A product does not need to be certified to be demonstrated and it can be an excellent way of gauging market barriers, gathering interest and even securing funding for certification. Demonstration also proves that a novel product or idea can work in reality.

A thorough and robust approach to design and manufacturing is also sensible. Working within guidelines common in your intended application areas and industries can ease certification as can having a facility that meets the requirements of international standards for manufacturing quality. It is also important to make sure that those you work with throughout the supply chain maintain a similar approach.

RCS will remain a vast and often murky environment, and ultimately only active involvement and input from those who it affects will change this. This is not to say that the current system is not progressing to support fuel cell and hydrogen technologies – it is, and will continue to do so – but heavy engagement from fuel cell and hydrogen companies is the catalyst needed to advance progress.

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Appendix

Geographic Regions

RCS Resources

For up-to-date lists of fuel cell and hydrogen RCS Fuel Cell Today recommends visiting hyfacts.eu and fuelcellstandards.com, as well as the committee pages of ISO/TC 197 and IEC/TC 105. Updates on the development of international and American standards can be found at hydrogensafety.info.

FCT Regions

Europe

Asia

RoW

North America

FIGURE REFERENCES

1. EC Network of Excellence for Hydrogen Safety “HySafe”, ‘Template for HySafe Website Dedicated to RCS and WP16’, accessed September 2012: http://www.hysafe.org/download/878/D27template.pdf

2. UK National Physical Laboratory, ‘Hydrogen Purity Analysis for Fuel Cell Vehicles’, October 2011: http://www.npl.co.uk/publications/science-posters/hydrogen-purity-analysis-for-fuel-cell-vehicles

HySUT – Japanese Research Association of Hydrogen Supply/

Utilization Technology.

ICAO – International Civil Aviation Organization.

IEC – International Electrotechnical Commission.

ISO – International Organization for Standardization.

ITU – International Telecommunication Union.

JPEC – Japan Petroleum Energy Center.

NB – Notified Body.

NEBS – Network Equipment-Building System.

NEDC – New European Driving Cycle.

NEDO – Japanese New Energy and Industrial Technology

Development Organization.

NFPA – US National Fire Protection Agency.

NHTSA – US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

NRTL – Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories.

NSAI – National Standards Authority of Ireland.

MEA – Membrane Electrode Assembley [fuel cell component].

OEM – Original Equipment Manufacturer.

OSHA – (US) Occupational Safety & Health Administration.

PEM(FC) – Proton Exchange Membrane (Fuel Cell).

RCS – Regulations, Codes and Standards.

RoHS – EU Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive.

SAE – Society of Automotive Engineers.

TC – Technical Committee.

WSC – World Standards Cooperation.

UK – United Kingdom.

UK NPL – UK National Physical Laboratory.

UL – Underwriters Laboratory Inc.

UN – United Nations.

UNECE – United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

UPS – Uninterruptible Power Supply.

US(A) – United States (of America).

WEEE – EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive.

GLOSSARY & ACRONYMS

ADR – European Agreement concerning the International

Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road.

AHJ – Authority Having Jurisdiction.

APU – Auxilliary Power Unit.

ATEX – Appareils destinés à être utilisés en ATmosphères

EXplosives [EU Directive on potentially explosive atmospheres].

bar – Unit of pressure, equivalent to 100 kilopascals.

BCGA – British Compressed Gases Association.

BOM – Bill Of Materials.

BSI – British Standards Institution.

CAD – Computer-Aided Design.

CE – Conformité Européenne [EU conformity mark].

CHP – Combined Heat and Power.

CNG – Compressed Natural Gas.

CSA – Canadian Standards Association.

DIS – Draft International Standard.

DMFC – Direct Methanol Fuel Cell.

EC – European Commission.

EHSR – Essential Health & Safety Requirements.

EMC – EU Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive.

EU – European Union.

FCC – US Federal Communications Commission.

FCEV – Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle(s).

FCH – Fuel Cell(s) and Hydrogen.

FCH-JU – Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking.

FMVSS – Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

GTR – Global Technical Regulation.

HAZOP – HAZard and OPerability Study.

HICE – Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine.

HOST – Hydrogen On Site Trials.

HRS – Hydrogen Refuelling Station.

HSE – UK Health and Safety Executive.

HSM – Hydrogen Storage Module

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Fuel Cell Today would like to thank the many companies and individuals that continue to provide us with news and information. Special thanks go to the following for their invaluable contributions to the case studies that underpin this report: Björn Ledergerber, Graham Cooley, Olivier Scheele, Sandra Saathoff. The 2012 Fuel Cell RCS Review is based for the most part on information available up to November 2012.

Fuel Cell Today, Gate 2, HQ Building, Orchard Road, Royston, Herts SG8 5HE, UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1763 256326 www.fuelcelltoday.com

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