Issue 0302    

News from the East: Hydrogen Initiative founded in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

On track towards breakeven: BWT wants to double revenues in the membrane business

From coal to hydrogen: German Hydrogen Energy Conference held on mining ground

Guinea pigs wanted: EnBW to put up FC systems in 55 private households

The market leader catches up: E.ON announces test phase for FC home appliances

Declaration of independence: the Bush government increases emphasis on renewables

Canvassing for hydrogen: political support in Germany

A glimpse into the fuel cell: founder of start-up develops FC quality management

Solar energy on the increase?

This time with Dipl.-Ing. Marco Voigt, VDI/VDE-IT, Automotive – Fuel Cell

Technology goes entertainment: the Hydrogen Expo 2002 live theater

Fuel cell lottery: and the winner is ...

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On February 20 the "Hydrogen Initiative Mecklenburg-Vorpommern e.V." was founded at the University of Applied Sciences in Stralsund in Eastern Germany. Founded by companies and research facilities, the association's goal is to foster the dialogue between the economy, the science sector and politics, to support joint projects and thereby to pave the way for the development of future technologies in a region with poor industrial infrastructure. While the German Federal Minister of Economics in his recently published energy report negated positive effects of H2 technology on the employment market, the Economic Minister of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state, Dr. Otto Ebent, welcomed the undertaking: "The development of new lines of technology in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in times of structural change is of particular importance for the saving and creation of future-oriented jobs. With this young people in particular are offered another chance for a future in our state." In addition to providing financial means from the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Future Fund, Ebent wants to support the initiative with a program from his own ministry. The founding members of the iniative include the University of Applied Sciences, Stralsund, the Institute for Low-Temperature Plasma-Physics in Greifswald, the Institute for Organic Catalysis Research, as well as five local corporations.

Austrian enterprise BWT AG, which so far had its core business in water treatment, is moving into new lines of business. In 2001, the holding which last year earned revenues of 419.6 million Euro with profits at 15.1 million Euro established the "Fuel Cell Membrane Technologies" (FCMT) division. This division last year earned revenues of 1.3 million Euro with losses at 2.6 million Euro. For 2002 a doubling of FCMT revenues is forecasted, the breakeven is foreseen for 2003. Speaker of the Board Andreas Weissenbacher sees great potential for his corporation in fuel cell technologies. Miniaturization was the big thing when it came to developing applications on the brink of series production, for example battery substitutes for mobile phones and laptops. BWT produces the membranes necessary for these fuel cells and anticipates total R&D investments of 13.2 Euro in 2002, which equals an almost 20% increase compared to last year.

From November 12 to 14, 2002, the German Hydrogen Energy Conference will be held at the "Zeche Zollverein", a former mining ground in Essen, Germany. This was announced by the North-Rhine Westfalia State Minister of Economics Ernst Schwanhold on February 27 before the state parliament. The Forum for Future Energies, Berlin, acts as the organizer, conference operations are managed by Freesen & Partner GmbH, Duesseldorf. Prof. Dr. Carl-Jochen Winter, Vice President of The International Association for Hydrogen Energy heads the conference chair. The location is set in a former coal mining ground which now hosts state-of-the-art conference facilities. The idea behind this is to illustrate the necessary building of a bridge between old and new energies. The German Hydrogen Energy Conference wants to give a voice to the German contribution to hydrogen technologies within the international scope. For starters, participants can join an excursion taking them to model H2 projects in the region. During the conference on November 13 and 14, speakers will talk about the state of technology and new developments in these areas: hydrogen production, storage, transport, sensor technology, safety, infrastructure, hydrogen applications, fuel cell applications, market development, financing. The conference will end with a high-level political round table. The call for papers will be send out shortly (the conference language is German). Online information is already available at www.dh2e.de.

After RWE AG recently announced the testing of fuel cell heating stations in collaboration with manufacturer Nuvera in selected households, utilities company EnBW is also looking for house owners who want become experimental. A nation-wide campaign was designed to canvas for "pioneers" who want to write history by letting fuel cell technology move into their cellars. By the end of 2004 EnBW wants to install at least 55 fuel cell systems, 25 already this year. A free toll number under which interested parties can learn more about the program is published on the corporate website. According to EnBW, the FC units to be put into use perform with a maximum of 1kw electrical and 24.5kw thermal energy. This was ideally suited to supply a single household. The size of the system equals that of a conventional heating station. The EnBW system will be connected to the existing gas grid. The utilities company is also going to run, monitor and maintain the pre-series models which are not for sale. The customer is provided with the heat he needs to keep his house warm and to secure his hot water supply by EnBW. The test household thus carries no technical nor financial risk.

Germany's largest utilities company E.ON wants to play a part in the development and application of customer-oriented future technologies, too. This was announced by a speaker of E.ON Energie AG when the company unveiled a project with Hannover City Works for the testing of a solid oxide fuel cell. "At E.ON we are convinced that the fuel cell will assume an important place in the energy mix of the future", says Rainer Elsaesser, VP Technology of the utilities company. Long-term field tests for more than 200 fuel cell heating appliances with an electrical performance of 1 to 5kW are anticipated to take place at E.ON employees' and further interested private households. The objective of this test phase it to modify and operate the systems in compliance with customer needs and to centrally control the decentralized power generation units in line with the actual demand. Further knowledge will be gained from the collaboration with EWE AG, which is implemeting tests with approx. 300 FC systems. E.ON expects small systems to be market-ready as early as 2010, by 2020 10% of the household demand is to be supplied by this technology. Until then the products of four manufacturers, Buderus, Sulzer Hexis, Vaillant and Viessmann will be evaluated for optimum efficiency in meeting customer requirements. According to E.ON Energie, the company is investing more than 20 million Euro in customer-oriented FC technology applications. This includes 15 million Euro for projects to supply energy to homes and 5 million Euro for at least four projects in the range of 200 to 300kWel.

In a recent speech at a White House event where several fuel cell vehicles were shown, George Bush made hydrogen technology a national issue. The reason for this change in domestic energy politics, which now foresees significant investments into the development of renewable energy concepts, lies in the events of September 11, 2001. This financial support is to increase independence from the OPEC countries. Accordingly, the US president introduced the subject by saying: " We're here to discuss an energy plan, a comprehensive energy plan that recognizes that through technology we can increase our national security and economic security by reducing demand for petro chemicals and, at the same time, we can clean up the air in our country." The US imported more than 50% of its oil, said Bush, which equaled 10 million barrels per day, with the figure rising. This resulted in dependence on countries that sometimes bore no friendly feelings towards the United States. Knowing that a number of obstacles had to be overcome to make fuel cells commercially available, the President referred to the "FreedomCAR" program announed in January which provides 150 million US dollars to the development of fuel cells running on pure hydrogen. Bush called for the senate to pass a comprehensive energy plan quickly. He closed his remarks be spefically stating that the energy bill was jobs bill, too, and that therefore the Teamsters (union) strongly supported this.

A clear signal for hydrogen as the fuel of the future just came from the German political sphere. At a congress organized by the ruling German Green Party under the tagline "Energies for tomorrow, from oil to hydrogen" all of the speakers voted for the clean energy carrier. On the first day the round table, which inluded German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and Prof. Klaus Toepfer from the United Nations Environment Programme, announced a reorientation in the energy sector. Joschka Fischer in his call for more commitment to renewable energies emphasized the importance of future energy strategies on domestic and foreign politics. The Federal Environment Minister Juergen Trittin, patron for Hydrogen Expo, on the second day said: "We need the new energy area for our domestic market as well as for exports." He further underlined the potential for creating new jobs. During the ongoing discussion a number of central questions repeatedly came up, such as the much sought-for decentralization of energy supply, the increasing fuel decarbonization, and the necessary efficiency increase for energy systems. The congress illustrated that the whole energy economy is undergoing a process of change, in which hydrogen as the number one energy carrier of the future and the fuel cell as the number one energy converter of the future play an important role. (Sven Geitmann)

Start-Up company Xellivision, which was founded by Karl-Heinz Hauer a year ago, is dedicated to quality assurance for fuel cells. The 37-year-old German scientist developed a technology to illustrate the internal energy conversion process in the fuel cell. The idea is to identify the reasons why individual components do not participate in the conversion from hydrogen to usable energy with the same efficiency as others and to optimize the process. Differences in temperature or mass transfer could result in inefficient performance of the cell. In order to improve this and therby to increase the fuel cell efficiency ratio, Hauer measures the internal activities taking place in the FC using the external magnetic field and pictures the results with his software. Among his customers is Volkswagen AG. Because revenues from the new business do not yet cover expenses for carrying on his work, Hauer further serves as a consultant for mass transfer simulation in fuel cell vehicles and other propulsion systems. According to himself, this includes stationary systems currently tested by the utilities companies.

The participants of the online survery on www.h2trend.com made their vote: When asked which renewable energy bore the best potential for hydrogen production, the majority voted for solar energy with 62%. Wind made it to the second place with 21%, biomass landed on rank 3 with 17%. As of now, everyone interested can contribute their input to a new question on the same site: What is the biggest challenge for the introduction of H2 technologies on a large scale?

This time with Dipl.-Ing. Marco Voigt, VDI/VDE-IT, Automotive – Fuel Cell

H2 Report: What does VDI/VDE-IT do?

Marco Voigt: On the one hand VDI/VDE-IT is project carrier for the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and for programs from the Federal Ministry of Economics. On the other hand we are a consulting company providing assistance to the industry, politics and investors. Grouped in interdisciplinary teams, we analyse the technical, economical and socio-economical conditions for innovative projects for technology-oriented companies. We support the planning, development and introduction of new products and services. With trend studies, market and technology analysis as well as long-term road-mapping we help to find the right way into the market.

H2 Report: Are you specialized in certain areas?

Marco Voigt: Our company focuses on a wide range of topics. We are basically divided into three areas: society, economy and technology. Technology includes topcis such as life science, automotive, information technology, product engineering, and of course fuel cells.

H2 Report: So there is a special focus on fuel cells. What exactly does VDI/VDE-IT offer in this field?

Marco Voigt: The focus on fuel cells is a relatively new line of business for us. Our goal is to speed the miniaturization of fuel cells specifically in Germany. This is based on our experience with a program on microsystem technology which we run for the Ministry of Education and Research. The fuel cell calls for miniaturization, too, so it was obvious for us to put more emphasis on this subject.

H2 Report: However, miniaturization does not only refer to very small fuel cells but also to miniaturization of their components.

Marco Voigt: This is correct. Miniaturization refers to the whole scope of fuel cell systems and quite explicitly not only to micro fuel cells, although this might be the most obvious at first sight. It also refers to high-performance SOFC systems, for example.

H2 Report: So you offer consulting to companies who want to enter the FC market, you organize workshops and see yourself as a mediator between suppliers and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) who want to integrate FC technology into their products?

Marco Voigt: Yes, that sums it up. One of our business activities lies in supporting start-up companies. This includes a technology-oriented program called "Futour" which was designed for young founders from the new states (in Eastern Germany). Now we want to offer this experience to fuel cell technologies start-up throughout Germany. At the same time we receive an increasing number of inquiries from venture capitalists who are planning to invest into a company involved in FC technology. There is a lot of uncertainty as to how these technologies should be evaluated and what the business perspectives are.

H2 Report: How do you see the potential of hydrogen and fuel cell technology for the German economy?

Marco Voigt: I see a great potential here. In Germany we are in possession of very good know how in the field of fuel cell miniaturization. When thinking of the mirco fuel cells developed by the Fraunhofer Institute I am convinced that this knowledge stands out on a worldwide basis. Simultaneously, we have a number of small and mid-sized companies (SMEs) in Germany such as h-tec which are quite able to sell smaller fuel cell units profitably. So when you look a the total of efforts, including the large enterprises such as BMW, DaimlerChrysler, RWE or Vaillant, I am positive that we have a very good standing internationally. However, in our opinion we make too little use of this.

H2 Report: This means you see chances not only for large enterprises but also for SMEs.

Marco Voigt: Yes, for SMEs in particular. Fuel cells will of course not be able to develop new markets overnight. We might have to go via niche markets. We have to win smaller markets first before we can use the knowledge we gained there to penetrate the larger ones.

H2 Report: VDI/VDE-IT is planning to cooperate with Hydrogen Expo. What will this be about?

Marco Voigt: We want to emphasize the focus on SMEs. Our idea in joining efforts with Hydrogen Expo is to create a theme pavilion for small and medium-sized companies with different focus areas. Further, we plan to organize a one-day workshop at the show which will once again pick up the topic of fuel cell miniaturization. Experience tells us that there is a high interested among the industry, research, investors, and also from the public sector. At Hydrogen Expo we want to promote this subject. The workshop is also designed to servce as a networking forum for SMEs, which still much more rely on public or private financial support than others. Most of the time their financial resources merely allow visiting such an event. Therefore we have be creative in providing opportunities to showcase the German know how in a comprehensive way and to help these companies establish contacts. As an international platform Hydrogen Expo is ideally suited for this.

If you wish to raise any questions to Mr. Voigt or want further information, please refer to: voigt@vdivde-it.de

Event News:

Last year the exhibition cinema offered infotainment on hydrogen and fuel cells to the visitors. This time a live action theatre located in the exhibition hall will educate and entertain the audience from October 10 to 12 in Hamburg. In addition to panel discussions on the latest issues the program includes special events by the exhibitors. The theatre is designed to present technologies, applications and benefits in a different, tangible and critical way. Companies interested in contributing to the program get more information from the organizer Freesen & Partner GmbH at tel. +49-211-687858-0.

All Hydrogen Expo 2001 visitors who either pre-registered online or used a free admission voucher had the chance to win a do-it-yourself fuel cell kit. And the winner is: Gerhard Buttkewitz from ATI Küste GmbH. Congratulations from the H2 Report Team. And there will be prize for 2002 attendees, too. Online registration is already possible at: www.H2expo.com