Katrina Effects: Air Products' LH2 Stop Affects Industry; New Calls for Energy Alternatives NEW ORLEANS, LA - Hurricane Katrina, crashing into the Mississippi Gulf Coast at the end of last month, took out just about all of Air Products' liquid hydrogen-making plant capacity here, causing ripples of production outages in industries such as specialty steel making and semiconductor wafer production.
AC Transit Unveils "Most Advanced" Fuel Cell Transit Bus at Public Transport Expo DALLAS, TX - A little more than three months after letting world leaders take a peek and a ride in San Francisco at World Environment Day, AC Transit unveiled what the agency claims is the world's most advanced fuel cell bus to its peers here.
General Hydrogen Orders 100-Plus Fuel Cells from Ballard for Lift Trucks VANCOUVER, BC - It's not a family reunion, but the news last month that Ballard Power Systems here will deliver more than 100 Mark 9 SSL fuel cells to neighbor General Hydrogen conjured up memories of past personal ties.
Swiss Sulzer Corp. Halts SOFC "Hexis" Project Support, Eyes Spinoff or Sale WINTERTHUR, SWITZERLAND - Sulzer Corp., the large Swiss maker of pumps and other mechanical machinery, has thrown in the towel in its foray into solid oxide fuel cells and will end financial support after more than a decade, but wants the small unit to make it on its own.
Briefly Noted: Toyota-Savannah River Lab Japanese carmaker Toyota has signed a five-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Energy Department's Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) Aiken, SC to develop advanced hydride-based hydrogen storage technologies.
Briefly Noted: New Haven Transit Project Connecticut's Greater New Haven Transit District (GNHTD) last month announced its Advanced Transportation System Development System Development Plan for hydrogen-powered transit.
Briefly Noted: Toshiba DMFC Players Toshiba Corp. says it has developed two prototype direct methanol fuel cells and has begun testing them with mobile audio players.
Briefly Noted: Biggest FC Plant The country's largest commercial fuel cell power plant, a seven-unit 1.4 MW natural gas-fired phosphoric acid PureCell™ 200 generator made by UTC Power, was commissioned in mid-September by Verizon Communications, Inc.
Briefly Noted: Ag Department Grants Close to $200,000 for the purchase of wind turbines to provide power for a commercial hydrogen generator are included in almost $21 million in Rural Development grants for renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Briefly Noted: More Solar & Wind Power And More Solar Stirling Dish Energy, More Wind Power: A second California utility, San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) last month signed a large solar power purchase deal with Stirling Energy Systems. And two of the largest U.S. wind energy developers - FPL Energy and PPM Energy - are planning to install large wind power plants totaling 900 MW during the coming year.
Briefly Noted: FutureGen Alliance Some of the largest American electric utilities and coal companies have formed the non-profit FutureGen Industrial Alliance that will work with the U.S. Energy Department in the design and construction of what's billed as the world's first near-zero emission coal-fired power plant for both electricity generation and hydrogen production.
Briefly Noted: NuCellSys DaimlerChrysler and Ford announced the sale of the fuel cell systems business part of Ballard's German operation in Nabern, to DaimlerChrysler and Ford Motor Co. to form a new joint venture, NuCellSys GmbH. Ballard also announced a further belt-tightening to extend its cash reserves by a 12% reduction in year-over-year operating expenses via reductions in discretionary spending and layoffs of about 100 employees. DaimlerChrysler reported the acquisition of shares of its subsidiary, MTU Friedrichshafen that had been privately held. MTU Friedrichshafen, principally known as a diesel manufacturer, is a licensee of the Direct FuelCell® molten carbonate technology.
Briefly Noted: General Atomics-Korea General Atomics, San Diego, CA has announced a joint research program with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon, and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, Co. Ltd., Changwon, for the large-scale production of hydrogen using nuclear energy.
Briefly Noted: H2 Software H2Trade, a Chicago-based information products company, has released Ultimate Hydrogen 1.1, a new software program for Windows computers.
Briefly Noted: NanoMarkets Study A Glenn Allen, VA-based market research firm, NanoMarkets LC, says that next year will mark the take off for mobile fuel cells, a market that will reach a volume of $1.6 billion by 2010 and about $2.6 billion in 2012.
California Firm Offers 50 W Methanol Fuel Cell Rental Program MANTECA, CA - A small company here that specializes in custom video systems and related equipment for wildlife biologists, search and rescue teams and others operating in remote, difficult terrain is beginning to offer a fuel cell rental program, apparently the first one anywhere.
Events The "World Hydrogen Technologies Convention", held under the auspices of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy (IAHE), is scheduled for Oct. 3-6, in Singapore.
Transitions Soucy, Acker, van der Hyden, Vail, Boulos, Buckler, Pollack, Rizik, Munjal, Metzger, Ovshinski, Ramsbottom, Yakobson, Butz, Willis
