Applications

SAFC's technology is particularly suitable for use in small, transportable power generators, small backup / UPS systems, and residential / small-scale Central Heating and Power (CHP). These market segments are forecast to provide an addressable market of over $1.5bn by 2015 that will still be growing rapidly. Achieving low cost is a vital step in allowing Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) to address the multi-billion dollar market for these target markets.

Domestic CHP will see heating boilers replaced with fuel cell systems that generate both electricity and heat for use in the home. Localised, distributed generation in this manner avoids energy being wasted via the cooling towers of centralised power stations and the losses associated with electricity distribution.

Natural gas will remain the dominant fuel to be piped to industrial and domestic users. In addition, technologies are being developed that will allow synthetic methane to be produced by combining hydrogen with coal and, as part of a wider strategy, reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted.

In common with other SOFCs (and unlike PEM fuel cells), SAFC’s cells can be applied easily in applications where natural gas, propane, butane or other hydrocarbons are the energy vector of choice. (They can be fuelled with hydrogen when it is available.) This removes the requirement for a separate (and expensive) fuel pre-processor, which explains the interest in SOFCs for applications such as domestic CHP, where natural gas will remain the preferred energy vector for a number of decades.