NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

Fuel Cell Technology Status:Degradation

Jennifer Kurtz (PI), Huyen Dinh, Genevieve Saur, Chris AinscoughNational Renewable Energy LaboratoryJune 8, 2016

Project ID FC-081

This presentation does not contain any proprietary, confidential, or otherwise restricted information.

2

Overview

• Project1 start date: July 2009• FY15 DOE funding: $85k• FY16 planned DOE funding: $100k• Total DOE funds received to date:

$735k

• Lack of data for current fuel cell stack voltage durability

Timeline and Budget Barriers

• U.S. and international fuel cell developers supply data voluntarily and review published results

Partners

1 Project continuation and direction determined annually by DOE2 Fuel Cell Technologies Office Multi-Year RD&D Plan –Section 3.4

Application 2020 Durability Target2

Light DutyAutomotive

5,000 Hours

Public Transit 25,000 Hours

Stationary 1-10kW

0.3%/1,000 Hours

Stationary 100 kW – 3 MW

80,000 Hours

Electrolysis TBD

3

RelevanceBenchmark state-of-the-art durability

o Develop snapshot of state-of-the-art fuel cell and electrolysis durability

o Uniformly apply analysis method to developers’ voluntarily supplied data from lab testing (technology readiness level ~ 3 – 5)

o Obtain independent assessment and status of state-of-the-art fuel cell technology

Leverage analysis experienceo Utilize analysis methods, experience, and data

from fuel cell field demonstrations (e.g., DOE’s FCEV validation project)

o Compare lab and field data

Collaborate with key fuel cell developerso Provide feedback to fuel cell developerso Benchmark fuel cell durability

FY16 Objectives• Receive and analyze new lab

durability data• Update and publish the durability

results• Include electrolysis data

Barrier/Impact• Data on fuel cell stack voltage

durability is received at the National Fuel Cell Technology Evaluation Center (NFCTEC)

• Consistent and independent source for current and legacy voltage durability

• Status used for DOE records (e.g. https://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/pdfs/11003_fuel_cell_stack_durability.pdf)

4

Approach – State-of-the-art Lab Fuel Cell & Electrolysis Voltage Degradation Annual Benchmarking

Request to

Industry

What Data

Submit Data

Analysis

Status

5

Approach – Data RequestRequest

to Industry

What Data

Submit Data

Analysis

Status

Request to Industry• Contacted via Email, Call, or Industry Gatherings• Reach out to all leading developers

Sample Email Request

6

Approach – Data GatheringRequest

to Industry

What Data

Submit Data

Analysis

StatusWhat Data• Existing data from industry• Voluntarily supplied• Technology Readiness Level ~ 3 – 5• Voltage, current, hours, metadata, market

Example metadata template

7

Approach – Data GatheringRequest

to Industry

What Data

Submit Data

Analysis

StatusSubmit Data• Industry selected data sent to NFCTEC• Data from variety of configurations and test protocols• No specific test requirements, other than a high number of

hours (e.g. > 1,000 hours)• Fuel cell technologies include Polymer Electrolyte

Membrane (PEM), Solid Oxide (SO), and Direct Methanol (DM), Electrolysis

National Fuel Cell Technology Evaluation Center

Fuel Cell/Electrolyzer Technology Status Data Supply

Voluntarily supplied from fuel cell developersDurability – voltage, current, and hours minimum data neededTest – time frame, objective, protocol, application, and typeMarket – system price, availability, and application

8

Approach – Data AnalysisRequest

to Industry

What Data

Submit Data

Analysis

StatusAnalysis – EXAMPLE DATA

• Voltage and current data

1

1

• Apply polarization fit

2

2 3

• Corresponding operation hour3Voltages from polarization fit at set currents

4

4

5

5 Fit voltage and operation data

66 Degradation linear fit

7

7 Y-intercept beginning of life voltage8

8 Record operation hour when fit crosses 10% nominal voltage drop

9

9 Investigate fit quality

9

Approach – StatusRequest

to Industry

What Data

Submit Data

Analysis

StatusStatus• Detailed Data Products (DDPs)

• Individual results provided to data provider• Benchmark individual status• Data provider review and concurrence prior to

publication• Composite Data Products (CDPs)

• Published aggregated results across multiple systemsand teams without revealing proprietary data

• Annual update*

Fuel Cell/Electrolyzer Technology

Data Provider

CDPsDDPs Public

*www.nrel.gov/hydrogen/proj_tech_validation.html

ResultsNational Fuel Cell Technology Evaluation Center

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Backup Op HrsInActive Data SetsActive Data Sets

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Accomplishments: Data Set Count and Operation Hours

05/2016 CDPs include174 data sets analyzed90% retired22 new data sets since 05/201517 CDPs (updated since 05/2015)Added electrolyzer durability23 Developers participating

Updated

12

Backup Power Automotive Bus Forklift Prime Power

Hou

rs (1

,000

s)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

4525 th - 75 th Percentile

Avg. Projected HoursDOE TargetInterim DOE Target

NREL cd

Accomplishments: Voltage Degradation Results by ApplicationThe average projected times (hrs) to 10% voltage drop are 2,600, 3,500, 6,200, 13,200, and8,600 for backup power, automotive, bus, forklift, and stationary applications, respectively.

Data from lab tested, full active area PEMFC and SOFC short stacks and systems with full stacks. Data generated from constant load, transient load, and accelerated testing and include 23 U.S. and international fuel cell developers.

10% voltage degradation metric is used for assessing voltage degradation; it may not be the same as end-of-life criteria and does not address catastrophic failure modes. DMFC included but not enough data was available for publication.DOE targets are for real-world applications; refer to Fuel Cell Technologies Office Multi-Year RD&D Plan.

Updated since 05/2016

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2015 AMR feedback• This analysis is not so useful unless the performance and durability statistics are

shown with technical information such as fuel cell system design/materials/system architectures. Getting meaningful technical information from fuel cell developers on a voluntary basis seems to be a limitation. o This is a challenge for this project. The team is working with DOE to increase the quality and

type of data provided. This is in progress via DOE industry point of contact lists, additional (or optional) metadata requests, and included this as a requirement for applicable DOE awards.

• Electrolyzer data will be very useful now that the focus in the fuel cell field has shifted to include the supply of hydrogen. o An aggregated result of electrolyzer voltage durability is included for the first time.

• The need for benchmarking is high. However, any analysis of performance and durability without technical information about design/materials/system architecture is not useful. Data acquisition on a voluntary basis shows critical limitations. Actual benchmarking on these vehicles would be able to show performance and durability with detailed technical information. Collaboration with U.S. DRIVE Partnership Technical Team is expected. o Fuel cell vehicle voltage durability is tracked and measured (see TV001) and compared with

findings in this project. We do ask for materials/system info in the metadata ask but the partner does not usually provide it.

• The data are grouped by application but not by technology. Information is not provided about the progress of each technology to meet the application needs. This is very important for DOE and commercial clients in technology selection. o Noted. The major challenge in grouping results by technology is additional limitation of

publishing results because technology may identify a participant.

19

Collaborations• Multiple fuel cell developers voluntarily supplied data

o 23 fuel cell developers contacted have supplied at least one dataseto Reasons for developers not providing data include concerns over voluntary

proprietary data sharing, availability of data sets with high operation time that are a good fit to include in the analysis, and readily accessible data in the requested format

o Data contributors are not identified yet because of limited data sets by application category

• Gathering PEMFC, DMFC, SOFC, and electrolyzer datasets• Data sharing is completely voluntary• Participation in DOE durability working group and presentation of status

to fuel cell tech team• Ongoing effort with fuel cell & electrolyzer developers to:

o Include new data sets (particularly in the stationary category) o Update datasets already included if applicableo Include new fuel cell developers

20

Remaining Challenges and Barriers• Legacy data impact on current,

state-of-the-art durability projections

• Focus of developers on reducing cost (or other areas) may conflict with increasing voltage durability in these resultso Analyzing and reporting on the

relationship between lowering cost and improving durability

• Voluntarily supplied data• Inconsistent availability of data and status reporting• Requests for additional information relevant to durability is not

addressed because that data isn’t provided

2010 2011 2012 2013 2015 20160

5

10

15

Proj

ecte

d H

ours

(1,0

00)

Automotive

E.g. stable average durability projects for automotive and max projection >> current on-road durability

21

Proposed Future Work• Continue status update on fuel cell & electrolyzer durability

and system cost/price – cost/price and durability status update planned for FY17

• Continue cultivating existing collaborations and developing new collaborations with fuel cell developers

• Publish a report on the durability and cost analysis method (9/2016)

• Correlate stack durability data with single cell durability data via DOE test protocols

• Support DOE in development of an electrolyzer durability target

22

SummaryRelevance: Independent assessment of state-of-the-art fuel cell technology provides one location for fuel cell durability status from leading fuel cell developers with a uniform analysis and reporting method on a variety of proprietary data.

Approach: Leverage NFCTEC and prioritized industry collaborations.

Accomplishments: Updated sixth annual results for six applications, plus started electrolysis, and included new details based on metadata and durability trends over time and international developers. The data are fully integrated into NRELFAT and an online interface provides information on the project, connection for interested collaborators, and all publications.Improved project information material for

details and benefits of participation.

Collaborations andFuture Work:Continue expanding analyzed data sets, included fuel cell developers, and results.

Application 2020 Durability Target

Lab Status - AveHrs to 10% Voltage

Degradation

Light DutyAutomotive

5,000 Hours 3,500

Public Transit 25,000 Hours 6,200

Stationary 1-10kW

0.3%/1,000 Hours 8,600

Stationary 100 kW – 3 MW

80,000 Hours

Forklift 20,000 HoursTarget Under Review

13,200

Backup 10,000 HoursTarget Under Review

2,600

Technical Back-Up Slides

24

Approach: Current Status to Complement DOE Fuel Cell System Cost Based on Models for High Volume

Record Source: http://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/pdfs/14014_fuel_cell_system_cost_2014.pdf

Cost/Price Template

25

Low Volume Price of Current Fuel Cell Systems

Price values not updated yet in FY16

26

Pamphlet with Participation Details and Benefits

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory is seeking fuel cell industry partners from the United States and abroad to

participate in an objective and credible analysis of commercially available fuel cell product cost/price and durability data to benchmark the current state of

the technology and support industry growth.

27

Electrolyzer MetaData

Reviewer Only

29

Publications and Presentations

All CDPs available online at http://www.nrel.gov/hydrogen/proj_fc_analysis.html