Dive Brief:
- Boeing announced this week that after 16 months of development it has delivered a “reversible" fuel cell for the U.S. Navy, for testing "to determine its ability to support the energy needs of military and commercial customers," Shephard Media reports.
- Boeing said the fuel cell is the first of its kind, using a “reversible solid oxide" cell to store energy from renewable resources, including wind and solar, producing clean, zero-emissions electricity.
- Commissioned on the Southern California Edison power grid at Boeing’s Huntington Beach, Calif., facility, the cell is now installed on a microgrid at the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center in Port Hueneme, California.
Dive Insight:
Boeing has developed a new kind of fuel cell for the United States Navy, and while there are few details as to the system's size or specific applications, it remains clear the military is looking deeper into distributed energy resoures and grid security.
“This fuel cell solution is an exciting new technology providing our customers with a flexible, affordable and environmentally progressive option for energy storage and power generation,” Lance Towers, director of advanced technology programs for Boeing, said in a statement. “As the company begins its second century, it’s not surprising that we’d be at the forefront of helping solve the energy and technology challenges of the 21st century.”
Boeing explained that the system generates, compresses and stores hydrogen. When power is needed, the cell consumes the stored hydrogen to produce electricity. Boeing said its technology is unique in "being able to both store energy and produce electricity in a single system, making the technology 'reversible.'”
Boeing said the fuel cell was developed using the company’s experience with energy systems for unmanned undersea vehicles and can be adapted and customized for a variety of defense and commercial applications.
Universities and the military have driven microgrid development so far, with some high-profile projects including a 160 MW military grid in Georgia, and a 137 MW grid at the University of Texas at Austin.
“If you look at capacity, universities and the the military lead the way to date,” Omar Saadeh, a senior analyst with GTM Research, told Utility Dive last year. “The military has a very unique value proposition for reliability."
