AFC Energy, the leading provider of hydrogen power generation technologies, is pleased to confirm the sale of a bespoke 100kW H-Power^TM alkaline fuel cell system to Forschungszentrum Jülich (“Jülich”) for deployment at its Living Lab Energy Campus (“LLEC”) showcase in Germany.

The LLEC will integrate, across a new “Smart” IT platform, an integrated operation of renewable energies with technologies from the Hydrogen sector (generation, storage and power generation) to offer real time analysis into novel energy supply and control strategies for deployment across future Smart Cities.  Following in-depth technical discussions with Forschungszentrum Jülich, AFC Energy has been working with Jülich to engineer a bespoke, 100kWe H-Power^TM fuel cell system designed to meet a number of predefined operational specifications for the LLEC located in Germany.

Having now validated H-Power’s operational performance specifications against Jülich’s metrics, AFC Energy is today pleased to confirm it has been selected to supply a fuel cell system to the LLEC for deployment and commissioning in Quarter 3 2021.

Martin Müller, LLEC Team Manager "Hydrogen Production“ (IEK-14), said "Having evaluated AFC Energy’s alkaline fuel cell technology for several months, we are now pleased to be placing an order for a 100 kWe alkaline fuel cell unit for delivery as an integral part of our Living Lab Energy Campus. This project will support the furtherance of Germany’s Energy Transition via a more efficient utilisation of hydrogen and also demonstrate innovative hybrid solutions for Power-to-Gas and Gas-to-Power applications. We are looking forward to working together with AFC Energy on this showcase project.”

With considerable knowledge and expertise of fuel cell and electrolysis technologies, AFC Energy was selected by Jülich principally due to the higher tolerance of its alkaline fuel cell technology to a range of contaminants, including such compositions as can be typically found in Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (“LOHC”) solutions which are expected to be utilised within the LLEC.

Initial operation of AFC Energy’s 100kWe alkaline fuel cell unit at the LLEC will be fuelled with hydrogen derived via electrolysis (powered by renewables). In due course, Jülich’s intent is to fuel the H-Power system with hydrogen stored and released locally via a LOHC system. Jülich will own and operate the 100kWe fuel cell system with engineering support services provided by AFC Energy to commission and train local operators on the system.

“AFC Energy is pleased to be working alongside Jülich in delivering Europe’s leading energy hub devoted entirely to the transition towards a more sustainable distributed energy system – a system whose blueprint can be deployed across any number of Smart Cities around the world,” explained Adam Bond, Chief Executive Officer, AFC Energy. “We have long seen a role for the Company’s alkaline fuel cell technology in supporting distributed microgrids in Europe and internationally and with the recent strong leadership shown by the German Government in this field, we welcome the opportunity to be part of such a high profile international showcase alongside several of Germany’s leading technology and research institutes.”