uk

UK-based sodium-ion (Na-ion) and lithium-ion battery material company Faradion has appointed former Axeon CEO Lawrence Berns as CEO.

Lawrence replaces Chris Wright who is now Faradion’s chairman.

UK-based fuel cell developer ACAL Energy is close to completing a £15m ($25m) funding round to commercialise its low-platinum fuel cell for automotive and stationary use.

When closed, the funding round will enable ACAL to bring the redox liquid-based catalyst system to production-level ready for licencing to automotive OEMs. ACAL has a number of OEMs interested in the product because of the lower costs and longer lifetime than competitors.

Brendan Bilton, ACAL’s chief commercial officer, said: “Automotive companies want fuel cells to cost $40kW but none of the normal fuel cells can achieve this. We could get to 20% lower than that.”

Major automotive companies that have announced fuel cell electric vehicle designs require a lifecycle of more than 5,000 hours with less than 10% degradation to match an ICE vehicle. The catalyst of ACAL’s fuel cell is based on polyoxometalates rather than platinum which allows it to run for 10,000 hours with no degradation. The platinum is the point of degradation in regular fuel cells so removing 80% of it makes ACAL's cells more durable.

Bilton said the technology will be licenced to OEMs who could potentially have them in cars four years after licencing: “Many companies are looking at having first generation fuel cell vehicles on the road by 2020. We are aiming for second generation,” he explained.

The fuel cells have the potential to be used as a source of power generation as well as for automotive use, which could turn a person’s car into their generator also. This idea is attracting interest in regions that suffer frequent power outages such as Japan.

The commercialisation funding round is being finalised to allow the licensing of the technology in the next two months.

Honeywell, a developer of energy efficiency promoting technology, is working with power management company Stor Generation on a novel smart grid programme in the UK. The initiative will utilise excess energy from industrial or commercial facilities— which have opted into the scheme— for grid stabilisation.

It will work by Stor Generation paying the industrial and commercial users to reduce their power consumption at peak times. Honeywell will supply automated demand response (ADR) devices to these companies that will allow short-term reductions in power consumption such as changes to lighting and heating of the buildings.

Stor will alert the participating facilities when they should reduce energy usage and that power can then be supplied to the National Grid under its short term operating reserve (STOR) initiative.

"The technology required to avoid a megawatt of consumption costs a fraction of that needed to pump out an additional megawatt," said Jeremy Eaton, vice president of Honeywell Smart Grid Solutions. "From a cost-benefit standpoint, ADR is the most prudent option for reducing energy use and is the most clean, sustainable path to energy reliability."

This will be the first time ADR will be used to compensate the National Grid and the first example of ADR being used in place of back-up generators to lower the strain on the electricity grid.

The benefit to the participating companies is a revenue stream from existing buildings, which will have minimal impact on the running of the business. Site load flexibility can highlight usage and reduce energy costs.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed by Imperial College London and the University of Science and Technology in Korea to develop fuel cell technology.

The MoU is intended to advance the involvement in hydrogen and fuel cell research between UK and Korea.

A Professor from each establishment signed the MoU at Imperial College London’s Energy Future Lab, which will be the focal point of the research and is the UK’s hub for hydrogen and fuel cell technology research.

Professor Nigel Brandon, director of the EFL said: “Korea is investing heavily in a range of energy technologies including fuel cells, reflecting the country’s relative lack of natural resources. As fuel cells are the most efficient form of electricity generation for a range of fuels, including natural gas and hydrogen, this is of significant interest for Korean industry to develop for both its home and international markets.”

The UK’s first large-scale lithium-ion battery has been connected to the electrical grid on the island of Orkney – in the Scottish Isles in the UK – as part of a trial by Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution (SHEPD).

The installation of the 2MW battery at Kirkwall Power Station on the island is to store excess energy produced from renewable sources. The island group has more producing ability than capacity for storage in the grid, resulting in wasted energy.

Mark Rough, Head of commercial activity for SHEPD said the installation will not provide an immediate solution to the current constraints of the Orkney distribution network, however he hopes the study will show batteries to be a cost-effective way of freeing up capacity on the network to help facilitate new connections of low carbon generation.

The battery, made by Mitsubishi, has been part of a two-year test in Nagasaki, Japan. The Low Carbon Networks Fund is funding the project.