integration of solid oxide fuel cells and ... - Ea Energianalyse

1. INTRODUCTION
the electricity and heat 2 is distributed via grids to the end-user which
introduces transmission and distribution losses. These can to some
extend be eliminate by moving the generation of electricity close to the
end-user (covers three of the sectors mentioned above).
Combined Heat and Power (CHP) generation is advantageous, since
the waste heat can be utilized locally for process heating (industrial
sector), space heating, and hot water. This means that the losses are
reduced significantly.
Distributed generation could be applied in several places e.g. in the
manufacturing industry (large scale), hospitals and malls, but also for
private homes (very small scale).
1.3.2 Fuel cells
Fuel cells are one of several DG technologies. One of the strengths of fuel
cell systems is that the efficiency is relatively high and depends very little
on system size which is an important property for this purpose.
The fuel cells are still in the developing phase and only market niches
exist. It is though expected that the market share will grow in the future
as the price of fuel cells decrease (the current price of fuel cells is still far
to high to compete with other technologies on the market).
1.3.3 Transport
The transports sector today is very dependent on fossil fuel especially oil.
The primary energy consumption within this sector is enormous due to
high demand and due to relatively poor energy efficiency of combustion
engines (especially during part load) 3 . In addition the growth rate of
transport demand is large.
The fuel cells can be used to generate electricity for propulsion, but
another option is to use it as an auxiliary power unit (APU) which
supplies electricity when the grid is not accessible or e.g. the main engine
of a truck is turned off.
2 Some countries utilize the waste heat from the electricity generation via district
heating networks, but it is most common to reject the heat to the surroundings.
3 Large engines e.g. in ships have a much better efficiency than combustion engines
in general though - up to more than 50% [2]
4