Department of Energy Awards Nearly $7 Million to Advance Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Storage Systems Research
The U.S. Department of Energy today
announced nearly $7 million over five years for
independent cost analyses that will support
research and development efforts for fuel cells
and hydrogen storage systems. The four
projects – in California, Ohio, and Virginia
– will generate rigorous cost estimates for
manufacturing equipment, labor, energy, raw
materials, and various components that will
help identify ways to drive down production
costs of transportation fuel cell systems,
stationary fuel cell systems, and hydrogen
storage systems. These projects will
provide important data that will help the
Department focus future research and
development funding on the fuel cell components
and manufacturing processes that can deliver
the greatest gains in efficiency.
"These projects
will help advance our fuel cell and hydrogen
storage research efforts and bring down the
costs of producing and manufacturing next
generation fuel cells," said U.S. Energy
Secretary Steven Chu. "These technologies
are part of a broad portfolio that will create
new American jobs, reduce carbon pollution, and
increase our competitiveness in today's global
clean energy economy." These projects
will generate lifecycle cost analyses of
existing and conceptual fuel cell systems for
transportation and stationary
applications. The projects will analyze a
range of system sizes, manufacturing volumes,
and applications, including transportation,
backup power and material-handling equipment
such as forklifts. Cost analyses are
conducted by designing the system and
conceptualizing its manufacturing process,
selecting manufacturing equipment, determining
labor and energy, and obtaining prices for
materials and manufacturing equipment.
The design of systems and manufacturing process
is guided and vetted through system models at
National Laboratories, patent and literature
research, presentation from developers, and
peer review.
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