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Flexible and dispatchable, high-efficiency power generation supplied with carbon-neutral renewable fuels is needed to help enable defossilization of the electric grid. Pressurized, hybrid SOFC systems fueled with hydrogen, biogas, or renewable natural gas can generate clean power at ultra-high efficiency. In this summary, we provide an update on the development progress of a full-scale, hybrid system that targets low cost (<1000 $/kW) and ultra-high efficiency (70%-LHV) distributed power generation for applications up to 1 MW. The system features pressurized, metal-supported SOFC technology from Ceres Power which is integrated with a modified diesel engine which converts the residual chemical exergy in the anode tail-gas from the SOFC to drive auxiliaries and produce net additional power. Updates on critical hardware advancements around pressurized multi-stack, 30 kW fuel cell modules, low-speed high efficiency rotating equipment, and ultra-high efficiency power electronics are provided. A techno-economic outlook for such power generation systems in various stationary applications.

No abstract

The unique and beneficial characteristics of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology hold much promise for their eventual widespread adoption in numerous commercial building applications. Nevertheless, cost and durability challenges remain that currently limit SOFC technology penetration in stationary energy applications. Under the U.S. DOE ARPA-E INTEGRATE program, the Colorado School of Mines and its partners are developing a novel hybrid stationary power system comprised of an intermediate temperature (600-degreeC), metal-supported solid oxide fuel cell stack integrated with a high efficiency stationary engine and novel balance-of-point (BOP) equipment.

The development of commercial SOFC systems often utilizes models of a single representative SOFC stack to simulate the system’s prime mover. In practice, however, these representative single-stack SOFC models fail to consider effects due to the reality of multi-stack power modules needed to construct commercial-scale systems. Effects such as flow maldistribution, inter-stack heat transfer, and area-specific resistance (ASR) variation between stack units within a single module will create deviations in performance from a single stack-based system simulation. The following outlines efforts to consider these thermofluidic effects and the associated performance deviations of a novel 30kWe SOFC multi-stack module using models in the gPROMS Modelbuilder® environment. Specifically, the impacts of gas manifolding, heat loss, and stack placement are investigated, and their potential impacts are discussed.