NKK to Market Canadian Solid Oxide
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| NKK-FCT 5kW SOFC power system |
NKK has reached an agreement with Fuel Cell Technologies Ltd. (FCT) of Canada to market and distribute FCT's solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) power systems of sizes up to 50kW in Japan and other East Asian markets.
SOFC systems feature highly efficient power generation and last long due to use of ceramic electrolyte.
Based in Kingston, Ontario, FCT integrates fuel cell systems and develops small SOFC systems incorporating cells made by Siemens Westinghouse. It is currently developing a high-efficiency 5kW system that NKK plans to market in 2003 following testing and evaluation in Japan. NKK has high hopes for FCT products as stationary sources of electricity and heat in homes and small commercial enterprises.
NKK currently has a distributor/packager agreement to sell and service SOFC systems from Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp. of the United States. The agreement with FCT for smaller systems fulfills part of NKK's SOFC business development strategy pursuing a global alliance. The alliance will enable NKK to provide a full lineup of SOFC power systems ranging from 5kW to higher megawatt output.
The main features of the NKK-FCT SOFC system are:
- Exceptionally efficient power generation of up to 48%, which is quite high compared to other types of fuel cells and gas engines. Moreover, overall efficiency can be raised to 80% with heat recovery (cogeneration) from the flue gas.
- Ideally suited to urban areas, thanks to ultra-low emissions of environmentally regulated NOx, SOx and other pollutants.
- Simple, compact structure (no need for external fuel reformer).
Small SOFC systems also show great promise for power generation using new clean fuels such as dimethyl ether (DME). Commercial application of DME systems is now under study at NKK.
