Opendata, web and dolomites

Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - INNO-SOFC (Development of innovative 50 kW SOFC system and related value chain)

Teaser

The INNO-SOFC project is focusing on development of an innovative 50 kW SOFC system and related value chain from interconnects and stacks to end-users and application analysis. The project is based on the products of industrial partners (Convion, EnergyMatters, Elcogen, and...

Summary

The INNO-SOFC project is focusing on development of an innovative 50 kW SOFC system and related value chain from interconnects and stacks to end-users and application analysis. The project is based on the products of industrial partners (Convion, EnergyMatters, Elcogen, and ElringKlinger) and motivated by their interest to further improve their products and consolidate an efficient value chain by collaboration. Industrial partners are operating at different phases of the value chain and are not therefore competing against each other, The project aims to improve beneficiaries’ products and consolidate an efficient value chain by a close collaboration. Research centres (VTT, Jülich, and ENEA) support these companies to develop, experimentally validate and demonstrate their products.

The main objective of this project is to design, assemble and demonstrate a novel 50 kW SOFC power plant with significant cost reductions, improved efficiency and longer lifetime compared to current state of the art SOFC systems. The quantitative objectives of the project are 60% electrical and 85% total efficiency. In addition, at least 30% reduction in system cost, below 4000 €/kW is targeted. Cost target for stacks is 2000 €/kW. Life-time target for the system is 30000 hours. Within the project, the INNO-SOFC system will be demonstrated with a 3000-hour run. Other objectives of the project are to identify most promising applications and boost the market penetration of stationary fuel cell products and services.

Work performed

Main results of the first reporting period include: completed application and end-user analysis, completed system conceptual design including optimized stack-system interface, optimized open cathode stack design, new stack conditioning system for open cathode stacks, successful manufacturing and delivery of interconnect plates. In general, the project is progressing according to the original plan, except some months delay in system design and manufacturing. All deliverables of the first reporting period have been submitted and public deliverables are visible on the project webpage: http://www.innosofc.eu/

Final results

Within this project 60% electrical and 85% total energy efficiency will be demonstrated at system level. The electrical efficiency of a SOFC system is affected by stack voltages, system fuel utilization and auxiliary (parasitic) power consumption, including power conversion losses. INNO-SOFC project will provide improvements to all of these factors. The use of Elcogen’s high performance stacks at low temperatures will provide an improved Nernst voltage combined with reduced ohmic losses, resulting in a higher cell voltage than conventional SOFC cells at nominal conditions throughout the lifetime. High performance stacks combined with several improvements in system architecture will lead into beyond state of the art system efficiency. Currently system conceptual design is ready and stack validation tests have started with very promising results towards efficiency targets.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.innosofc.eu/.