Oct 13 2006
GE today announced it has successfully developed and delivered a 6 kW prototype of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) system to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)/National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) for testing as part of a multi-year research program under the Department’s Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA) Coal-Based Systems program.
The delivered prototype exceeds DOE’s key performance specifications for both efficiency and potential for low cost and represents a major step forward in providing the SOFC technology required for large scale, commercially viable SOFC products for power generation. The prototype achieved an efficiency of 49%, which is well above the minimum requirement of 35% set forth in the program. The development of this prototype is part of a 10-year, three-phase program with DOE/NETL to build a highly efficient, multi-megawatt SOFC-based power system operating on coal. This system has the potential to achieve dramatically reduced emissions and close to 50% efficiency from coal. This would far surpass the 35% efficiency that can be achieved in a typical conventional pulverized coal-fired power plant today.
“SOFCs represent one of the most promising fuel cell technologies for achieving unsurpassed efficiency and environmental performance in large scale power generation plants,” said Kelly Fletcher, Advanced Technology Leader, Sustainable Energy Programs, GE Global Research. “While significant technical challenges remain, the development of this prototype represents a demonstrable step toward meeting GE’s goal of making SOFC technology commercially viable. GE’s long-term objective is to make SOFC technology viable for large-scale power generation.
“GE’s partnership with DOE in this multi-year research effort is another example of the company’s commitment to addressing the world’s most pressing environmental and energy challenges through ecomagination,” Fletcher continued. “It also is a clear example of how government and the private sector can work together to effectively advance the development of new, sustainable energy technologies that will promote cleaner, more efficient and affordable energy solutions.”
Launched in May 2005, ecomagination is GE’s company-wide initiative to aggressively drive and bring to market new technologies that help our customers meet their most pressing environmental challenges. Under the initiative, GE has pledged to more than double its level of investment in the development of cleaner energy technologies, from $700 million to $1.5 billion over the next five years.
Because SOFCs provide a continuous flow of power, operate at high temperatures and have multi-fuel capabilities, they can greatly enhance energy efficiency in power generation. And since fuel cells are a virtually combustion- and NOx-free power source, they also can vastly improve environmental performance. SOFCs are part of GE’s eco-technology portfolio.
The delivery of a SOFC prototype continues GE's on-going fuel cell development work with the DOE. Since 2001, GE has been one of six industrial teams participating in DOE's SECA program. The program is a DOE initiative aimed at accelerating advanced technologies that will enable the commercialization of cost competitive SOFCs for clean and efficient power generation from a variety of fuels, including coal. Last year, GE was the first team to successfully complete Phase I.
As part of its partnership with DOE, GE will design an integrated gasification fuel cell (IGFC) system that incorporates a hybrid SOFC/gas turbine as the primary power generation unit and demonstrate a proof-of-concept system. Resolving the technical challenges associated with the development of large scale SOFC technology is a key objective of the program.