Fuel Cells : Integrating CHP into the built environment

Weds 15th February 2012 18:00 - 20:00

Architects and designers are experiencing continued pressure from clients for cost efficiencies, but at the same time there are increasing demands for these savings to be achieved alongside meaningful reductions in carbon emissions.
Can you really reduce costs at the same time as shrinking their carbon footprint? Increasing numbers of sites in the USA have already installed fuel cell for site heat & power, making use of the support available from the US Government for new technologies. Using the benefit of experience gained in these early deployment projects, commercial fuel cell CHP is now technically and commercially viable in the UK.
Uptake of fuel cell CHP within the UK is increasing rapidly. Projects such as the Transport for London emergency response centre at the Palestra building selected fuel cell CHP on commercial merit, and other commercial buildings have selected fuel cell CHP in preference to solar PV arrays as the most cost effective option for meeting on-site power generation and carbon reduction targets.
This event will demonstrate how fuel cell technologies offer a viable way forward to deliver commercial and environmental benefits. It will also consider the practical aspects of integrating distributed CHP technologies into buildings, and in particular the challenges of efficiently managing heat loads.

18:00 – 18:20 Fuel Cells & Hydrogen : What, Where, & When
Nigel will outline the current state of commercial deployment of fuel cell technologies, illustrating this with examples in transport, stationary and mobile power applications. He will also explain why Hydrogen as a low to zero-emission energy vector is such a good fit with renewable energy sources. He will then highlight the current opportunities for fuel cell technologies to be deployed in the food and drink sector as stand-alone Combined Heat & Power using conventional energy feedstocks or in conjunction with biogas from anaerobic digesters.
Nigel Holmes is CEO of the Scottish Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Association (SHFCA), which promotes and develops Scottish expertise in fuel cells and hydrogen technologies.

18:20 – 18:40 Fuel Cell CHP : Reducing Carbon, Cutting Costs
John Lidderdale is Managing Director of Logan Energy Europe. John is a mechanical engineer whose involvement in alternative energy has been long standing; he first drove a hydrogen powered car in April 1974. Logan Energy was established in 1995, and have installed over 130 fuel cell solutions. Logan have been responsible for approximately 17MWe of fuel cells out of a current world installed capacity of 60MWe, giving them unrivalled experience of the integration and installation of fuel cell technologies from a wide range of manufacturers.
John will explain the financial and carbon reduction benefits which can be achieved using fuel cell stationary power in Combined Heat & Power (CHP) and Combined Cooling Heat & Power (CCHP) for industrial and commercial fuel cell installations, along with examples of Logan Energy projects in this area including the recent Transport for London Palestra project.

18:40 – 19:00 Fuel Cells : Micro-CHP Design Practicalities
Allan Cumming brings over 40 years of experience, with a strongly held belief that time spent at the design stage in preparing clear and concise design information and detailed tender and construction drawings, produces a trouble free on -site installation. He is one of the few people who have practical experience of integrating fuel cell micro-CHP into a domestic building project delivered in 2005.
Allan will illustrate his talk with reference to his work for the Berwickshire Housing Association Level 4 project, a 1kW fuel cell running off the natural gas supply, as well as other recent projects.

19:00 – 19:20 Micro-CHP with Fuel Cells
Stuart Deed of Intelligent Energy CHP will discuss the benefits of deployment of fuel cells cell and hydrogen technologies into domestic and small scale CHP, and the opportunities in Scotland for working in partnership with key customers and suppliers.
Stuart Deed is acting Head of Business Development for IECHP. Stuart has 25 years of experience in the energy industry, having worked with Exxon Mobil and SSE. Stuart has operated as director and chair of a number of early stage cleantech businesses and has been involved with the IECHP business since its formation in 2007. IECHP is a joint venture between SSE plc and Intelligent Energy. The business has been established to assist in the commercialisation of a range of heating and power technologies with a specific focus on long term delivery of fuel cell and hydrogen based solutions.

19:20 – 19:40 Integrating CHP with Heat Storage
Andrew Bissell will focus on the pressing issue of energy storage, and in particular how storing heat can help improve energy efficiency. Sunamp is developing Heat Batteries that store heat energy more compactly – around a quarter the size of a hot water tank. Sunamp Heat Batteries can store both heat and cool and have compelling applications in domestic, commercial, industrial and automotive markets. Sunamp has applied for core patents on the integration of Heat Batteries with heat pumps, a technology dubbed Heat Store and Processor (HSP). HSP is expected to yield dramatic thermodynamic and return-on-investment advantages for a wide range of applications such as solar thermal hot water, combined heat and power, waste heat recovery and upgrading, air source heat pumps and climate control.

19:40 – 20:00 Question & Answer Session


This event is jointly organised and supported by :
- SHFCA, the Scottish Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association
- SEDA, the Scottish Ecological Design Association
- ECCI, the Edinburgh Centre for Low Carbon Innovation
- Edinburgh Napier University

To register for this free to attend event please use the link below.