Danish company Dantherm Power has announced plans to test
and release a highly efficient combined heat and power (CHP)
plant designed for private homes (Photo: Topsoe Fuel Cell)
The Danish company Dantherm Power has recently announced its
plans to sell solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) plants as
environmentally-friendly power stations for private homes. Even
though the project is only in its infantile stages, the company
predicts the now bulky prototype will evolve over the next few
years as the green alternative to power generators, or act as a
buffer for buildings that are powered by renewable but
intermittent energy sources such as wind or solar.
How solid oxide fuel cells work
A solid oxide fuel cell is a device that produces electricity
directly from the oxidation of a fuel. A single cell is a flat,
thin structure generating a voltage of only about 1 volt but,
when properly stacked and combined, their small output voltage
and wattage can add up to reach much higher values.
The cells operate at very high temperatures and their
theoretical efficiency in terms of electricity generation can
reach a remarkable 60 percent; when used as combined heat and
power (CHP) plants, they become even more effective. Their high
efficiency — which translates into a smaller carbon footprint —
and their low emissions of nitrogen and sulphur oxides make
solid oxide fuel cells a strong horse to bet on in the
technological race for cleaner energy.
These cells could be deployed as combined heat and power
(CHP) plants for a single home's needs, which would cut wasteful
transmission loss in both the electricity and the heating
network. Combined with today's large CHP units, these "micro
CHP" plants could be used either on their own, or as a buffer
for clean but intermittent energy sources such as wind turbines
and solar panels.
The timeline
Micro CHP plants are now in a prototype stage and, as the
company itself put it, "the size of an overgrown American
fridge." For the time being, stress was put on the ability to
supervise and maintain the device rather than reducing its size;
production models will however be reduced, the company promised,
to approximately the size of a dishwasher.
Dantherm Power is producing a limited number of systems that
will be put into operation among professional users like
plumbers or electricians, who will be able to provide feedback
and solve problems that might arise with these early prototypes.
These first plants will generate 1 kW of power and 1 kW of heat
and will be powered by natural gas.
There will be seven more micro CHP plants in operation as of
early 2011, and in September 2011, another 15 will be installed
in private homes in Southern Jutland, Denmark for a final trial.
Starting in 2012 and progressively until 2015, the company
predicts that the reduced costs and improved specifications and
reliability will encourage more and more people to replace their
old furnace with a SOFC micro CHP plant.
The mini plants will initially be fueled by natural gas, and
possibly by methanol and liquefied petroleum gas, or even
biofuels in the later stages. In the long term, fuel cell power
plants will hopefully replace the more polluting, less efficient
generators powered by diesel or gas that are often used as
backup power sources in countries where the grid is not as
stable as in Denmark and other developed countries.
The product is being developed thanks to a long-term
collaboration between
Topsoe Fuel Cell, which developed fuel cell stacks into a
commercial stage,
Risø DTU, and
Dantherm Power.
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