Periodic Report Summary - NH34PWR (Ammonia based, fuel cell power for off-grid cell phone towers)
Project context and objectives:
The technology of mobile telecommunications has reached a level of maturity in those industrial regions where a reliable electrical grid powers the mobile base station infrastructure. However, the absence of a grid in many global regions now presents market needs for remote power units providing cleanly generated electricity more cost effectively. This project proposes to bring a fuel cell system to a position of commercial readiness to address this opportunity. The system will obviate the need for a hydrogen fuel infrastructure and this will be achieved by employing a novel solution based on anhydrous liquid ammonia as the fuel, a widely available commodity. Thus, a novel catalytic cracker will convert the ammonia to hydrogen and this, in turn, will fuel a set of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. By this means, an emissions free power source (PowerCubeTM) has been developed. This now has the potential to be deployed and operated remotely providing electricity more cost effectively with considerations to cost of ownership and long term reliability.
The key objectives are as follows:
1. to demonstrate that a fully-integrated, turn-key power system (PowerCubeTM) is technologically viable and can be readily manufactured to meet the cell phone operators' targets of reliability, longevity and low-maintenance. The benchmark in this respect is the polluting diesel generator technology which is unreliable and requires high maintenance with theft and adulteration of diesel fuel being widespread. The development targets will be set against the most likely customer specific systems performance requirements.
A further key project objective is to deploy several power systems (PowerCubesTM) as customer acceptance trial units in multiple sites across several climate zones and principally in sub-Sahara Africa. This will follow the development and field evaluation of a refuelling, maintenance and repair infrastructure. The latter will further benefit from a remote monitoring and control system which will be developed and will enable predictive maintenance.
This reporting period covers months 14 to 18 of a three year programme and it follows a previous proof of concept phase which has confirmed the efficacy of the approach from a technological standpoint. In summary, the output from the proof of concept phase will provide a coherent input to the present project. A prototype product has been assembled and five units have been shipped to the Linde/Afrox site in South Africa. These units will be used to initiate customer trials in the field. In its embryonic form, the prototype will provide the platform for developing further the manufacturing processes and the associated procedures and infrastructure. The early field trials will also nucleate the supply chain and by a process of iteration, the technical specification and product design will be developed further to facilitate cost effective manufacture while meeting the anticipated end-user needs. Thus, the current programme to date has focussed on the end-user requirements in terms of the specification of the complete system and the subsystems to be developed. Technical specifications aside, the programme also needs to take into account the manufacturability of the product and set in place, designs, procedures and infrastructures to bring this about cost effectively.
Project results:
Introduction
Diverse Energy (DE) have designed, documented and built the PowerCube (an ammonia fuel based power provider with the main sales focus for the mobile telecoms towers in rural Africa).
In good business practice, DE have:
1. created computer assisted design (CAD) support documentation
2. specified the components required to manufacture the PowerCube
3. produced bill of materials (BOMs) showing the material costs for manufacturing each unit
4. entered into commercial negotiations with component providers
5. established a commercial department capable of providing local sales and maintenance requirements in Africa
6. sent trial units to Africa for field testing.
The PowerCubeTM has been fully tested in the United Kingdom (UK) by DE and Motorola at their research facility in Swindon and by Afrox at their facilities in South Africa and Botswana.
Units are now located in Namibia for the first opportunity to test the PowerCube on live telecom sites direct with operators under field conditions.
Trial objectives
The objective is to demonstrate the viability of Afrox/DE ammonia power solution in supplying electrical power to telecom operator's transmission equipment at four sites on a continuous basis (24 hours/day) during the trial period for two mobile operators named MTC and LEO.
Trial criteria
The trials criteria aims to show that each of the following sections have been managed and delivered successfully and where necessary lessons have been learnt to implement further improvements.
1. Criteria one: shipping
2. Criteria two: deployment
3. Criteria three: climate
4. Criteria four: Afrox logistics
5. Criteria five: data monitoring
6. Criteria six: does the technology work
7. Criteria seven: power and efficiency.
Duration of trials
The first of the trial PowerCubes was powering customer sites at the end of February with the remaining three PowerCubes planned to power customer sites in early March. The trials are due to be completed on 15 May 2012, after which the PowerCubes will be removed from site unless commercial extensions are agreed with the customer.
Scope of supply: DE
DE have provided for the trials on each site one PowerCube container which securely houses the DE power generating equipment and Afrox ammonia storage, complete with safety equipment and associated connectivity (electrical cables and batteries to connect the DE PowerCubeTM to customer equipment and associated grounding requirements).
DE have provided remote technical monitoring and assistance from the UK, using our remote monitoring software and alert system, whilst also providing local field engineering support teams in Namibia to ensure the installation and operation of its equipment on a 24/7 basis.
Scope of supply: Linde/Afrox
Afrox have supplied ammonia storage (bank of cylinders, valves, piping) and safety equipment contained in the PowerCube container and in its vicinity and all the necessary refuelling infrastructure and logistics.
Namibia trial power requirements
The trials consists of four PowerCubesTM in Namibia with agreements from two mobile operators, LEO and MTC. We are extremely pleased with the selection of customer sites which has allowed us to fully demonstrate our capability and collect data against a wide range of environments and applications.
Criteria one: shipping
The PowerCubesTM took six weeks to ship to South Africa and two of the PowerCubes travelled for a further two weeks into Botswana. After initial acclimatisation testing, the cubes were relocated to Afrox Namibia. The remaining two PowerCubes were withheld in South Africa before also being shipped to Afrox Namibia. All cubes had final safety checks prior to customer installation. The sea freight journey was without incidence and no issues were reported from the road transport. Some concerns have been noted to limit risks for future shipments and these have been entered onto a register to highlight the need for modifications on future product designs to ease of transportation.
Criteria two: deployment
The PowerCubes have been successfully deployed, however, special vehicles are required owing to their size. They are designed to be moved by forklift, but these require the use of extended lifting forks. The PowerCubes are equipped with lifting points for use with trucks fitted with Hi-Ab lifting facilities.
These logistical issues should be a problem in urban areas with proper planning but it has been recognised for rural areas, the use of specialist equipment would increase the costs of deployment.
Criteria three: climate
The local climate in Namibia during the trials is during the height of the summer and will test the robustness of some of the components to the limit of their specification. However these are exactly the conditions necessary for the trials which we are unable to test for in the UK due to a moderate climate.
The daily temperatures are expected to be moving between 32 to 42 degrees in the sun with a heating effect on the PowerCubeTM with an internal temperature maintained by our ventilation equipment at 40 degrees.
In addition, the external solar shield roof which was fitted which is expected to provide an insulating air gap reducing the heating effects on the PowerCubeTM.
Criteria four: Linde/Afrox logistics
The supply of ammonia cylinders is well understood by Afrox and is not expected to cause a problem. As part of the exercise Afrox insisted on conducting a health and safety audit on the PowerCubeTM, called internally a safety, health, environment and quality (SHEQ) review. This review was conducted first on the PowerCubeTM to assess if the Afrox team thought that it was safe to operate. DE's own safety audit has been completed and so we were well placed to receive a review. The Afrox team did not find any significant issues with the PowerCubeTM but they did raise several issues about the refuelling cycle.
In order to refuel the ammonia it is necessary for an Afrox employee to gain access to the PowerCubeTM. This lead to recommendations that the 19'' electronics rack situated by the door have a plastic rain shield added to protect it during the delivery cycle which could last for an hour or more if exposed to poor weather. In addition, the delivery driver would be expected to operate within close proximity to a working gas reactor. The potential for mistakes and damage was raised and required careful consideration and mitigation.
The cylinder change over system for the cylinders was based on a 4 + 4 bottle system. At DE, it was normal practice to change four bottles from one bank as they ran out. These banks would automatically switch over during the re-fuelling process. Afrox have requested the option to change all eight cylinders at once in order to minimise the cost of delivery and hence the cost of supplying gas to the customer.
Criteria five: data monitoring
The data monitoring software originally installed proved to be unreliable and did not perform well. A new suite of software data and monitoring systems were installed but early evidence shows the operator mobile network is weak in remote areas, but data packets can be manually collected and transmitted to our monitoring stations by our support team. Sites nearer city centres will be able to automatically send regular data packs to the monitoring stations for analysis. The frequency and size of the data packs being transmitted is being reduced to keep the transmission costs to a minimum.
Summary
We are in early days of trialling but early results have shown the PowerCubeTM can and does operate very well in Africa and that Afrox are capable of supporting the refuelling requirements.
As can be expected with any Pre-production product, some areas for improvement are recognised and recommendations have been made. However, it should be noted that these are considered in the main to be system improvements that would be a feature of any product development process.
The cracker and fuel cell have performed well and the integration of all the systems utilising ammonia as a fuel for telecoms operators should be considered positive.
Potential impact:
DE company vision
To be a world leader in clean off-grid, continuous electrical power generation solutions using industrial gases throughout Africa.
DE mission statement
Our mission is to develop, implement and commercialise affordable, standalone clean technology solutions to generate power using ammonia or any other industrial gases to produce continuous off-grid electrical power in Africa.
To create important market opportunities
The consortium has ambitions to achieve volume commercialisation of the PowerCube in our chosen market, which will establish the players as leaders in the field of replacing stationary diesel generators with fuel cell technology.
1. ammonia is a hydrogen rich fuel for fuel cells.
2. this project targets developing countries, where diesel generators are used in place of an unreliable or non-existent electrical grid.
3. the consortium is made up of (most of the major components) the complete supply chain. Each member will be able to leverage knowledge gained from this project into other markets. This will open new and significant market opportunities and the component and sub-systems prices will fall with higher volume manufacturing.
Facilitation of effort towards the rapid development of fuel cell and hydrogen technologies.
Rapid exploitation of fuel cells is dependent on market acceptance of fuel cell technology. This project aims promote the use of using hydrogen fuel cells and share knowledge highlighting the advantages for the use of hydrogen and fuel cell technology. The ammonia fuel distribution infrastructure is already used by the fertiliser and refrigerant industries. DE will promote hydrogen fuel cells as a widely acceptable alternative to diesel powered products. High volume manufacture of the fuel cell systems will lower the price of hydrogen to use with other projects, to assist bringing about a hydrogen economy.
An Energy policy for Europe
The European Union (EU) and other leading countries have set carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction targets. To this end, the proposal for carbon credits or trading schemes look to be introduced. Such schemes should encourage governments to carefully consider using hydrogen as providing a lower cost, clean power fuel than polluting diesel.
European cell phone industrial giants such as Vodafone, Telenor and Ericsson have responded to this challenge by announcing plans for a 50 % reduction in CO2 - greenhouse gas (GHG) - emissions in their worldwide operations by 2020. This is in spite of most cell phone growth occurring in developing countries and using inefficient diesel generators which increase the CO2 emissions per cell phone minute.
The PowerCube offers a reduction in CO2 emission over the incumbent diesel generators. It does this whilst simultaneously reducing the cost of power for the operator without any government subsidy or buy-down programme. By using ammonia, there are no CO2 emissions at point of use.
Efficient use of telecommunications reduces the need for travel, further cutting GHG emissions. By reducing the cost of powering cell phone towers in remote regions, (compared to diesel generators) telecom communications are reaching people who have not had any access to any electronic communications. The consequential improvements in business efficiencies directly contribute to lowered CO2 emissions and poverty reduction.
Security of supply
Europe is becoming increasingly dependent on imported hydrocarbons. This project promotes the use of a new energy carrier (fuel) namely ammonia. Although ammonia is made from natural gas, it is increasingly manufactured from stranded gas (e.g. in Indonesia) that could not be economically carried to Europe. Thus the use of ammonia would expand the sources of supply of fuel increasing the security of supply.
Competitiveness
The EU is exposed to diesel price volatility and price rises on international energy markets. The use of the PowerCube (compared to diesel generators) significantly reduces the impact of diesel price volatility, which is tied to the volatility of crude oil prices. Ammonia does have some price volatility, but the fluctuations are about three times less in absolute terms than the price fluctuations in diesel.
The PowerCube offers a reduction in GHG emission compared to the incumbent diesel generators, greatly impacting the ability of the operators to reduce harmful emissions at less expense than using bio-fuels. It does so, while offering lower total costs of ownership for the operators. This project aims to validate fuel cell systems to provide lower cost power for cell phone towers while achieving CO2 reductions.
Security of supply, technology transfer in renewable energy
The PowerCube is targeted at all developing countries lacking a reliable or available electrical power grid in rural locations. Africa is a key initial market and the focus of the validation trials because it shares a similar high taxation policy on diesel with the EU. The high cost of diesel is further inflated by endemic theft. This project will promote the transfer of high efficiency, clean low-cost energy technologies (fuel cells) to African countries.
Requirements to penetrate telecoms market
In the telecoms market, the consortium needs to prove three aspects:
1. The system is 'market ready' and can operate at customer's sites reliably, with minimum maintenance and downtime. We will have to completed viable market trials (field demonstrations) with a range of operators initially within Africa. This demonstration will verify the DE solution will provide a reduction in total cost of ownership.
2. Verify the current ammonia fuel supply infrastructure. Ammonia is already used within the fertiliser and refrigerant industries. We need to prove to current and prospective customers that Linde Gas has the capability and capacity to deliver Ammonia every month to every deployed PowerCubes.
3. Demonstrate a manufacturing (assembly) and supply chain process that will lead to supplying quality PowerCubes within customer acceptable lead-times. The measuring criteria include meeting quality and cost targets, with validation of the supply chain for securing component availability.
Initially the consortium will target Africa, because of:
1. the large percentage of towers in that continent that will require remote power
2. the excellent contacts we have with operators in that area
3. the high cost of fuel and high rates of theft for diesels in these countries. Even when an electrical grid is available in developing countries, it is generally unreliable and diesel generators are installed as power 'back-up'. Many of these systems are in built up areas where the silent and pollution free operation of the PowerCube will significantly improve the inhabitant 'quality of life'.
There is a strong demand from the cell phone operators and equipment suppliers to find an alternative to diesel power for non-grid connected cell phone towers, mainly because of the high costs of maintenance, rising fuel prices and the high replacement costs of diesel generators every 18 to 24 months. Furthermore diesel generators only provide about 95 % up-time (or reliability) compared to grid-connected industry norms of 98 to 99 % availability. Unreliable networks are the prime reason for customers to switch service providers.
Recognised business opportunities
The sales market DE Ltd and the consortium are targeting is continually developing and the following data has been collated:
1. there are an estimated 400 000 off grid towers worldwide today
2. GSMA estimate 35 to 40 % of towers in emerging markets will be off grid
3. the rate of growth is accelerating
4. including diesel generator replacements, the market size is estimated to be some 135 000 power systems per annum
5. GBP 6.7 billion potential market
6. 1.5 % market penetration represents a GBP more than 100 million per annum global revenue business.
How will DE have satisfied this market?
The aim is for DE to have supplied 40 units of the 1.2kW PowerCube systems onto customer sites to prove the following:
1. ability to supply continuous off-grid electrical power
2. easy installation for direct diesel generator replacement
3. patented cracker creates hydrogen from ammonia onsite and on demand
4. 80 % CO2 reduction from well to wheel
5. no combustion delivers zero emissions at point of use
6. high reliability and remote monitoring and control
7. solution supplied by Afrox / DE
8. supported by third party partners.
What will DE and the consortium provide?
The PowerCube will have proven it can successfully provide a cost-effective solution to customers requiring sub-1.2kW remote power applications marketplace, all of which require 100 % radio uptime.
Each PowerCube will need to be successfully transported to and installed on customer sites and integrated with customer equipment by locally trained third-party partners.
All PowerCubes will be designed for drastically different power demand profiles.
The PowetrCube will be able to support customer power dynamically with only the required power being generated. The PowerCube will be able to operate at both high and low turndown with no adverse effects.
DE and Afrox staff will have successfully supported the PowerCube product by responding to customer requirements; overcoming refuelling logistics across a range of terrains; collecting valuable and reliable data and proving component serviceability of the product in the field environment.
The PowerCube will be able to operate efficiently at power levels significantly lower than that achieved by diesel generators leading to lower fuel utilisation along with the benefit of less frequent servicing giving the customer a significant financial saving throughout the lifespan of the unit. In addition the carbon footprint at the point of use will be eliminated completely.
The PowerCube will successfully prove the ammonia to power concept in a real commercial environments whilst providing a compelling value proposition to the end customer. The PowerCube is a greener and viable alternative to diesel generators for off-grid reliable prime power demands.
The technology of mobile telecommunications has reached a level of maturity in those industrial regions where a reliable electrical grid powers the mobile base station infrastructure. However, the absence of a grid in many global regions now presents market needs for remote power units providing cleanly generated electricity more cost effectively. This project proposes to bring a fuel cell system to a position of commercial readiness to address this opportunity. The system will obviate the need for a hydrogen fuel infrastructure and this will be achieved by employing a novel solution based on anhydrous liquid ammonia as the fuel, a widely available commodity. Thus, a novel catalytic cracker will convert the ammonia to hydrogen and this, in turn, will fuel a set of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. By this means, an emissions free power source (PowerCubeTM) has been developed. This now has the potential to be deployed and operated remotely providing electricity more cost effectively with considerations to cost of ownership and long term reliability.
The key objectives are as follows:
1. to demonstrate that a fully-integrated, turn-key power system (PowerCubeTM) is technologically viable and can be readily manufactured to meet the cell phone operators' targets of reliability, longevity and low-maintenance. The benchmark in this respect is the polluting diesel generator technology which is unreliable and requires high maintenance with theft and adulteration of diesel fuel being widespread. The development targets will be set against the most likely customer specific systems performance requirements.
A further key project objective is to deploy several power systems (PowerCubesTM) as customer acceptance trial units in multiple sites across several climate zones and principally in sub-Sahara Africa. This will follow the development and field evaluation of a refuelling, maintenance and repair infrastructure. The latter will further benefit from a remote monitoring and control system which will be developed and will enable predictive maintenance.
This reporting period covers months 14 to 18 of a three year programme and it follows a previous proof of concept phase which has confirmed the efficacy of the approach from a technological standpoint. In summary, the output from the proof of concept phase will provide a coherent input to the present project. A prototype product has been assembled and five units have been shipped to the Linde/Afrox site in South Africa. These units will be used to initiate customer trials in the field. In its embryonic form, the prototype will provide the platform for developing further the manufacturing processes and the associated procedures and infrastructure. The early field trials will also nucleate the supply chain and by a process of iteration, the technical specification and product design will be developed further to facilitate cost effective manufacture while meeting the anticipated end-user needs. Thus, the current programme to date has focussed on the end-user requirements in terms of the specification of the complete system and the subsystems to be developed. Technical specifications aside, the programme also needs to take into account the manufacturability of the product and set in place, designs, procedures and infrastructures to bring this about cost effectively.
Project results:
Introduction
Diverse Energy (DE) have designed, documented and built the PowerCube (an ammonia fuel based power provider with the main sales focus for the mobile telecoms towers in rural Africa).
In good business practice, DE have:
1. created computer assisted design (CAD) support documentation
2. specified the components required to manufacture the PowerCube
3. produced bill of materials (BOMs) showing the material costs for manufacturing each unit
4. entered into commercial negotiations with component providers
5. established a commercial department capable of providing local sales and maintenance requirements in Africa
6. sent trial units to Africa for field testing.
The PowerCubeTM has been fully tested in the United Kingdom (UK) by DE and Motorola at their research facility in Swindon and by Afrox at their facilities in South Africa and Botswana.
Units are now located in Namibia for the first opportunity to test the PowerCube on live telecom sites direct with operators under field conditions.
Trial objectives
The objective is to demonstrate the viability of Afrox/DE ammonia power solution in supplying electrical power to telecom operator's transmission equipment at four sites on a continuous basis (24 hours/day) during the trial period for two mobile operators named MTC and LEO.
Trial criteria
The trials criteria aims to show that each of the following sections have been managed and delivered successfully and where necessary lessons have been learnt to implement further improvements.
1. Criteria one: shipping
2. Criteria two: deployment
3. Criteria three: climate
4. Criteria four: Afrox logistics
5. Criteria five: data monitoring
6. Criteria six: does the technology work
7. Criteria seven: power and efficiency.
Duration of trials
The first of the trial PowerCubes was powering customer sites at the end of February with the remaining three PowerCubes planned to power customer sites in early March. The trials are due to be completed on 15 May 2012, after which the PowerCubes will be removed from site unless commercial extensions are agreed with the customer.
Scope of supply: DE
DE have provided for the trials on each site one PowerCube container which securely houses the DE power generating equipment and Afrox ammonia storage, complete with safety equipment and associated connectivity (electrical cables and batteries to connect the DE PowerCubeTM to customer equipment and associated grounding requirements).
DE have provided remote technical monitoring and assistance from the UK, using our remote monitoring software and alert system, whilst also providing local field engineering support teams in Namibia to ensure the installation and operation of its equipment on a 24/7 basis.
Scope of supply: Linde/Afrox
Afrox have supplied ammonia storage (bank of cylinders, valves, piping) and safety equipment contained in the PowerCube container and in its vicinity and all the necessary refuelling infrastructure and logistics.
Namibia trial power requirements
The trials consists of four PowerCubesTM in Namibia with agreements from two mobile operators, LEO and MTC. We are extremely pleased with the selection of customer sites which has allowed us to fully demonstrate our capability and collect data against a wide range of environments and applications.
Criteria one: shipping
The PowerCubesTM took six weeks to ship to South Africa and two of the PowerCubes travelled for a further two weeks into Botswana. After initial acclimatisation testing, the cubes were relocated to Afrox Namibia. The remaining two PowerCubes were withheld in South Africa before also being shipped to Afrox Namibia. All cubes had final safety checks prior to customer installation. The sea freight journey was without incidence and no issues were reported from the road transport. Some concerns have been noted to limit risks for future shipments and these have been entered onto a register to highlight the need for modifications on future product designs to ease of transportation.
Criteria two: deployment
The PowerCubes have been successfully deployed, however, special vehicles are required owing to their size. They are designed to be moved by forklift, but these require the use of extended lifting forks. The PowerCubes are equipped with lifting points for use with trucks fitted with Hi-Ab lifting facilities.
These logistical issues should be a problem in urban areas with proper planning but it has been recognised for rural areas, the use of specialist equipment would increase the costs of deployment.
Criteria three: climate
The local climate in Namibia during the trials is during the height of the summer and will test the robustness of some of the components to the limit of their specification. However these are exactly the conditions necessary for the trials which we are unable to test for in the UK due to a moderate climate.
The daily temperatures are expected to be moving between 32 to 42 degrees in the sun with a heating effect on the PowerCubeTM with an internal temperature maintained by our ventilation equipment at 40 degrees.
In addition, the external solar shield roof which was fitted which is expected to provide an insulating air gap reducing the heating effects on the PowerCubeTM.
Criteria four: Linde/Afrox logistics
The supply of ammonia cylinders is well understood by Afrox and is not expected to cause a problem. As part of the exercise Afrox insisted on conducting a health and safety audit on the PowerCubeTM, called internally a safety, health, environment and quality (SHEQ) review. This review was conducted first on the PowerCubeTM to assess if the Afrox team thought that it was safe to operate. DE's own safety audit has been completed and so we were well placed to receive a review. The Afrox team did not find any significant issues with the PowerCubeTM but they did raise several issues about the refuelling cycle.
In order to refuel the ammonia it is necessary for an Afrox employee to gain access to the PowerCubeTM. This lead to recommendations that the 19'' electronics rack situated by the door have a plastic rain shield added to protect it during the delivery cycle which could last for an hour or more if exposed to poor weather. In addition, the delivery driver would be expected to operate within close proximity to a working gas reactor. The potential for mistakes and damage was raised and required careful consideration and mitigation.
The cylinder change over system for the cylinders was based on a 4 + 4 bottle system. At DE, it was normal practice to change four bottles from one bank as they ran out. These banks would automatically switch over during the re-fuelling process. Afrox have requested the option to change all eight cylinders at once in order to minimise the cost of delivery and hence the cost of supplying gas to the customer.
Criteria five: data monitoring
The data monitoring software originally installed proved to be unreliable and did not perform well. A new suite of software data and monitoring systems were installed but early evidence shows the operator mobile network is weak in remote areas, but data packets can be manually collected and transmitted to our monitoring stations by our support team. Sites nearer city centres will be able to automatically send regular data packs to the monitoring stations for analysis. The frequency and size of the data packs being transmitted is being reduced to keep the transmission costs to a minimum.
Summary
We are in early days of trialling but early results have shown the PowerCubeTM can and does operate very well in Africa and that Afrox are capable of supporting the refuelling requirements.
As can be expected with any Pre-production product, some areas for improvement are recognised and recommendations have been made. However, it should be noted that these are considered in the main to be system improvements that would be a feature of any product development process.
The cracker and fuel cell have performed well and the integration of all the systems utilising ammonia as a fuel for telecoms operators should be considered positive.
Potential impact:
DE company vision
To be a world leader in clean off-grid, continuous electrical power generation solutions using industrial gases throughout Africa.
DE mission statement
Our mission is to develop, implement and commercialise affordable, standalone clean technology solutions to generate power using ammonia or any other industrial gases to produce continuous off-grid electrical power in Africa.
To create important market opportunities
The consortium has ambitions to achieve volume commercialisation of the PowerCube in our chosen market, which will establish the players as leaders in the field of replacing stationary diesel generators with fuel cell technology.
1. ammonia is a hydrogen rich fuel for fuel cells.
2. this project targets developing countries, where diesel generators are used in place of an unreliable or non-existent electrical grid.
3. the consortium is made up of (most of the major components) the complete supply chain. Each member will be able to leverage knowledge gained from this project into other markets. This will open new and significant market opportunities and the component and sub-systems prices will fall with higher volume manufacturing.
Facilitation of effort towards the rapid development of fuel cell and hydrogen technologies.
Rapid exploitation of fuel cells is dependent on market acceptance of fuel cell technology. This project aims promote the use of using hydrogen fuel cells and share knowledge highlighting the advantages for the use of hydrogen and fuel cell technology. The ammonia fuel distribution infrastructure is already used by the fertiliser and refrigerant industries. DE will promote hydrogen fuel cells as a widely acceptable alternative to diesel powered products. High volume manufacture of the fuel cell systems will lower the price of hydrogen to use with other projects, to assist bringing about a hydrogen economy.
An Energy policy for Europe
The European Union (EU) and other leading countries have set carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction targets. To this end, the proposal for carbon credits or trading schemes look to be introduced. Such schemes should encourage governments to carefully consider using hydrogen as providing a lower cost, clean power fuel than polluting diesel.
European cell phone industrial giants such as Vodafone, Telenor and Ericsson have responded to this challenge by announcing plans for a 50 % reduction in CO2 - greenhouse gas (GHG) - emissions in their worldwide operations by 2020. This is in spite of most cell phone growth occurring in developing countries and using inefficient diesel generators which increase the CO2 emissions per cell phone minute.
The PowerCube offers a reduction in CO2 emission over the incumbent diesel generators. It does this whilst simultaneously reducing the cost of power for the operator without any government subsidy or buy-down programme. By using ammonia, there are no CO2 emissions at point of use.
Efficient use of telecommunications reduces the need for travel, further cutting GHG emissions. By reducing the cost of powering cell phone towers in remote regions, (compared to diesel generators) telecom communications are reaching people who have not had any access to any electronic communications. The consequential improvements in business efficiencies directly contribute to lowered CO2 emissions and poverty reduction.
Security of supply
Europe is becoming increasingly dependent on imported hydrocarbons. This project promotes the use of a new energy carrier (fuel) namely ammonia. Although ammonia is made from natural gas, it is increasingly manufactured from stranded gas (e.g. in Indonesia) that could not be economically carried to Europe. Thus the use of ammonia would expand the sources of supply of fuel increasing the security of supply.
Competitiveness
The EU is exposed to diesel price volatility and price rises on international energy markets. The use of the PowerCube (compared to diesel generators) significantly reduces the impact of diesel price volatility, which is tied to the volatility of crude oil prices. Ammonia does have some price volatility, but the fluctuations are about three times less in absolute terms than the price fluctuations in diesel.
The PowerCube offers a reduction in GHG emission compared to the incumbent diesel generators, greatly impacting the ability of the operators to reduce harmful emissions at less expense than using bio-fuels. It does so, while offering lower total costs of ownership for the operators. This project aims to validate fuel cell systems to provide lower cost power for cell phone towers while achieving CO2 reductions.
Security of supply, technology transfer in renewable energy
The PowerCube is targeted at all developing countries lacking a reliable or available electrical power grid in rural locations. Africa is a key initial market and the focus of the validation trials because it shares a similar high taxation policy on diesel with the EU. The high cost of diesel is further inflated by endemic theft. This project will promote the transfer of high efficiency, clean low-cost energy technologies (fuel cells) to African countries.
Requirements to penetrate telecoms market
In the telecoms market, the consortium needs to prove three aspects:
1. The system is 'market ready' and can operate at customer's sites reliably, with minimum maintenance and downtime. We will have to completed viable market trials (field demonstrations) with a range of operators initially within Africa. This demonstration will verify the DE solution will provide a reduction in total cost of ownership.
2. Verify the current ammonia fuel supply infrastructure. Ammonia is already used within the fertiliser and refrigerant industries. We need to prove to current and prospective customers that Linde Gas has the capability and capacity to deliver Ammonia every month to every deployed PowerCubes.
3. Demonstrate a manufacturing (assembly) and supply chain process that will lead to supplying quality PowerCubes within customer acceptable lead-times. The measuring criteria include meeting quality and cost targets, with validation of the supply chain for securing component availability.
Initially the consortium will target Africa, because of:
1. the large percentage of towers in that continent that will require remote power
2. the excellent contacts we have with operators in that area
3. the high cost of fuel and high rates of theft for diesels in these countries. Even when an electrical grid is available in developing countries, it is generally unreliable and diesel generators are installed as power 'back-up'. Many of these systems are in built up areas where the silent and pollution free operation of the PowerCube will significantly improve the inhabitant 'quality of life'.
There is a strong demand from the cell phone operators and equipment suppliers to find an alternative to diesel power for non-grid connected cell phone towers, mainly because of the high costs of maintenance, rising fuel prices and the high replacement costs of diesel generators every 18 to 24 months. Furthermore diesel generators only provide about 95 % up-time (or reliability) compared to grid-connected industry norms of 98 to 99 % availability. Unreliable networks are the prime reason for customers to switch service providers.
Recognised business opportunities
The sales market DE Ltd and the consortium are targeting is continually developing and the following data has been collated:
1. there are an estimated 400 000 off grid towers worldwide today
2. GSMA estimate 35 to 40 % of towers in emerging markets will be off grid
3. the rate of growth is accelerating
4. including diesel generator replacements, the market size is estimated to be some 135 000 power systems per annum
5. GBP 6.7 billion potential market
6. 1.5 % market penetration represents a GBP more than 100 million per annum global revenue business.
How will DE have satisfied this market?
The aim is for DE to have supplied 40 units of the 1.2kW PowerCube systems onto customer sites to prove the following:
1. ability to supply continuous off-grid electrical power
2. easy installation for direct diesel generator replacement
3. patented cracker creates hydrogen from ammonia onsite and on demand
4. 80 % CO2 reduction from well to wheel
5. no combustion delivers zero emissions at point of use
6. high reliability and remote monitoring and control
7. solution supplied by Afrox / DE
8. supported by third party partners.
What will DE and the consortium provide?
The PowerCube will have proven it can successfully provide a cost-effective solution to customers requiring sub-1.2kW remote power applications marketplace, all of which require 100 % radio uptime.
Each PowerCube will need to be successfully transported to and installed on customer sites and integrated with customer equipment by locally trained third-party partners.
All PowerCubes will be designed for drastically different power demand profiles.
The PowetrCube will be able to support customer power dynamically with only the required power being generated. The PowerCube will be able to operate at both high and low turndown with no adverse effects.
DE and Afrox staff will have successfully supported the PowerCube product by responding to customer requirements; overcoming refuelling logistics across a range of terrains; collecting valuable and reliable data and proving component serviceability of the product in the field environment.
The PowerCube will be able to operate efficiently at power levels significantly lower than that achieved by diesel generators leading to lower fuel utilisation along with the benefit of less frequent servicing giving the customer a significant financial saving throughout the lifespan of the unit. In addition the carbon footprint at the point of use will be eliminated completely.
The PowerCube will successfully prove the ammonia to power concept in a real commercial environments whilst providing a compelling value proposition to the end customer. The PowerCube is a greener and viable alternative to diesel generators for off-grid reliable prime power demands.