50 SOFC remote units have been installed and demonstrated in end-customer sites and those units have been achieved almost all project targets, which indicates that progress in project has been good. In comparison with the state-of-the-art level 1) a significant reduction of TCO have been achieved by cost reduction of BOP component, stack, and its periphery. Also the common supply chain and joint procurement for system manufacturer in the case of generic component and spare parts have decreased the TCO remarkable amount, 2) harmful emissions (CO2, SOx, NOx, particulate matter), noise, vibrations, and the risk of soil contamination by liquid fuels have been reduced and 3) higher power supply security have been reached.
The expectation of the RoRePower consortium is a potential market of several hundred units per year in the oil and gas market and several thousand in the telecom sector. There are approximately 30 000 off-grid telecom towers worldwide and most of them are powered with diesel generators, which have to be replaced every 4 to 7 years. During the RoRePower project SOFC systems will be delivered to both the oil/gas and telecommunication sectors. The fuel cells provide increased electrical efficiency in those markets compared to the incumbent technologies. Fuel cells with higher electrical efficiency also offer reduced maintenance requirements. The overall total cost of electricity will be decreased with the RoRePower products already at relatively modest product volumes. In addition, with respect to the thermoelectric generators, an 80% CO2 emission decrease is expected. With respect to Diesel combustion engines, the change from Diesel to natural gas or LPG on its own provides a CO2 reduction 70% in the power range of the project (2 kWe). Compared to conventional diesel generators, the fuel cell systems have much less NOx, CO, and particle emissions, which increases the wellbeing of e.g. people working around them.
