Fuel Cells Bulletin December 2006

site preparation, and installation and commis-sioning. Air Products will be a major subcon-tractor, and supply the compression, storage and dispensing equipment.

This installation represents another opportu-nity for Proton to demonstrate the performance of its technology in harsher winter climates. The companies will be able to compare the per-formance of the NYC installation with several similar Proton installations located in warmer and colder climates.

The follow-on MDA contract, in the form of a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase III grant worth $1.25m, calls for con-tinued development of regenerative fuel cell technology for high-altitude airships. The project is part of a Department of Defense initiative to develop a lighter-than-air, high-altitude airship Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) prototype. This ACTD aims to dem-onstrate the engineering feasibility and potential utility of an unmanned, untethered, gas-filled, solar-powered airship that can fly above 70 000 ft.

Research will proceed during a one-year period designed to test the efficiency and performance of Proton’s hydrogen-generating ‘core stack’. In addi-tion, its PEM electrolysis stack technology will be monitored closely as it is scaled up to the size required for high-altitude airship deployment.

Contact: Proton Energy Systems Inc, Wallingford, Connecticut, USA. Tel: +1 203 678 2000, www.protonenergy.com

Sulzer Metco, Plansee link up on ready-to-use SOFC components

Plansee High Performance Materials of Reutte, Austria has entered into

an agreement with Sulzer Metco in Winterthur, Switzerland to develop and produce key components for solid oxide fuel cells. The companies aim to establish an industrial standard for technologically sophisticated fuel cell components.

The companies said that they would both be investing in the further development of ready-to-use metallic high-temperature components for planar SOFCs. They will work closely together, in a partnership that will leverage the specialist competencies of both: Plansee’s exper-tise in the manufacture of high-temperature metallic materials, and Sulzer Metco’s knowl-edge of ceramic coatings.

Plansee High Performance Materials, a divi-sion of the Plansee Group, specializes in the development and production of high-performance

powder metallurgical materials. Sulzer Metco, a division of Sulzer AG, is one of the world’s lead-ing suppliers of surface engineering solutions and services for the aerospace, power generation, automotive and other industries.

Contact: Plansee SE, Reutte, Austria. Tel. +43 5672 6000, www.plansee.com

Or contact: Sulzer Metco Management AG, Winterthur, Switzerland. Tel: +41 52 262 3002, www.sulzermetco.com

Fuel cell companies invest in Ohio

In the US, Californian fuel cell firm UltraCell is to build a manufacturing

facility in Dayton, Ohio, bringing 360 jobs during the next four years. And UK-based Rolls-Royce has also chosen Ohio as the home for the headquarters of its new US fuel cell subsidiary.

UltraCell is looking at property near Dayton International Airport. The $74m project will cre-ate the world’s first high-volume fuel cell produc-tion line. The company is looking for suppliers in the machine and tool industries, and in the metal processor and composite industries.

Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems Inc, a new US subsidiary of Rolls-Royce’s fuel cell business, will operate on the campus of the Stark State College of Technology in Canton, Ohio, where it will occupy the purpose-built fuel cell proto-typing center constructed earlier this year.

The center was awarded a $2m grant through the Third Frontier Fuel Cell Initiative, a core program in Ohio Governor Bob Taft’s $1.6 bil-lion Third Frontier Project to create high-pay-ing, high-tech jobs in Ohio.

The newly formed subsidiary is also teaming up with Ohio-based American Electric Power (AEP) to test and evaluate prototype fuel cell systems at the Dolan Technology Center and Walnut Test Facility near Columbus, Ohio.

Contact: UltraCell Corporation, Livermore, California, USA. Tel: +1 925 455 9400, www.ultracellpower.com

Or contact: Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems Ltd, Loughborough, UK. Tel: +44 1509 225500, www.rolls-royce.com/energy/tech/fuelcells.jsp

FCT lays off staff, board resigns

Canadian-based SOFC developer Fuel Cell Technologies Ltd (FCTL)

has terminated the employment of all of its employees. The company – based in Kingston, Ontario – has also

announced the resignation of almost the whole board of directors, leaving Dr John Stannard as the sole director.

‘In light of the feedback we have received from financial institutions, our current financial status, and the limited number of orders in the sales pipeline, we regrettably feel that it is in the share-holders’ and employees’ best interests to provide notice to employees at this time,’ says Stannard.

Chief financial officer J. Christopher McFarlane has resigned as an employee, but has agreed to continue as CFO under the terms of a consulting agreement for up to a year to assist with the sale or wind-up of FCTL and its busi-ness. Similarly, Stannard has also resigned as an employee, and will continue under the terms of a consulting agreement for a similar period to assist with FCTL’s efforts to conclude its business.

The company will hold a special meeting of shareholders at the earliest practical date in 2007 to seek shareholder approval for any sale transaction requiring that approval, or alterna-tively, its wind-up and dissolution.

SC grants promote Columbia’s fuel cell economy

EngenuitySC, a non-profit economic development leadership council

based in Columbia, South Carolina has announced six grants covering fuel cell projects at its 2006 Annual Conference. The funding was awarded in response to the request for proposals issued earlier this year as part of the Greater Columbia Fuel Cell Challenge.

The six projects include a back-up power system at Benedict College; a citizens’ ‘School for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology’ at the University of South Carolina (USC); conceptual and content funding for a hands-on exhibit at a children’s museum; the deployment of portable hydrogen 'batteries' for television cameras; the development of battery-powered hybrid Segway personal transporters; and a first-responders extended power pack for police and emergency officials [also see In Brief, page 3].

USC, the City of Columbia, South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA) and EngenuitySC organized the Greater Columbia Fuel Cell Challenge to collaborate with private sector leaders from all areas of the fuel cell market place for the use of fuel cell and alternative energy technologies in multiple city, university and public applications in Columbia.

The fuel cell challenge received more than 40 project proposals, and the six awards announced at the conference are the first of

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