Pilot plant aimed at providing emergency power for data centres to be built near Stuttgart
Rolls-Royce Power Systems, a German subsidiary of the gas turbine, aerospace and nuclear giant, is collaborating with Lab1886, an innovation laboratory that is part of Mercedes-Benz, to develop and deploy hydrogen fuel cells for stationary power generation. The units, to be sold under the brand name MTU, are aimed specifically at providing continuous and emergency power for safety-critical applications such as data centres.
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Further reading
- View from the Academy: Cyber resilience is a grand challenge
- Fuel cells get sporty
- Alternative power source for data centres
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The Rolls-Royce unit, whose main focus is high-speed engines and propulsion systems for ships, trains, heavy land vehicles and defence applications such as tanks, already supplies generator sets for such safety-critical applications, but these are currently generally based on diesel engines. It believes that fuel cells might be an alternative which could be more environmentally-friendly as these emit no pollutants during operation, and if the hydrogen is generated using low-carbon electricity the overall emissions to the atmosphere are zero. The company is developing technologies for the manufacture of hydrogen and other synthetic fuels, and has teamed up with Lab1886 because of Mercedes’ expertise in hydrogen-powered electric vehicles. The pilot plant, at Friedrichshsfen, will be based on fuel cells built by Mercedes-Benz Fuel Cell.
“The idea behind the fuel cell is as ingenious as it is simple and we’re all pretty familiar with it. But implementing it in practice can still be a difficult challenge,” said Martin Teigeler, R&D chief of Rolls-Royce Power Systems. “Now that fuel cells have reached series maturity, they’re ready for the commercial market. And we’re delighted to have Lab1886 as our partner, because their technological mindset fits ours perfectly. We’re confident that Mercedes-Benz fuel cell modules have the potential to open up new application possibilities in stationary power generation as well, and that’s our market.”
“Our innovativeness has always been one of the main drivers of our long-term success and cross-industry exchange and collaboration have always been vital to it. We’re delighted to be supporting Rolls-Royce on a pilot project that will bring us closer to a successful energy transition outside the realm of the automobile,” said Susanne Hahn, head of Lab1886 Global.
Power supply issues to data centres hit the news headlines in 2017, when an outage at a British Airways data centre caused a series of highly disruptive flight delays and cancellations. Data centres are now among the highest users of energy worldwide, and according to Rolls-Royce, fuel cells offer a dual advantage with their capability of generating continuous current and a serendipitous coincidence between the outlet temperature of computer system coolant and the inlet temperature of the fuel cell coolant.
Way back in the 1960s Fuel Cells were believed to be the next great high efficiency power source. Its been a long wait (like fusion) but hopefully they will move out of the speciality niche market as a result of this intent.
I did not know that RR power systems was based in Germany, though that it was in Derby: missed again, hard to keep up: we certainly need The Engineer!
Will companies really pay more for a system used 5min per year on average?
In 1889 they had the first fuel cell -It is never about collaboration as the market will always respond to threats, that take its source of income away. It is only legislation and deadlines and new start ups that have any chance of winning the race .Even with this, lobby groups will pile in oodles of cash into destroying its credibility -as the post above proves.If you look up (ambri fuel cell) on you tube and watch the way that markets massaged the figures and make the status quo look good.This has to be overcome before we can have a zero future as the ones that loose out in this future are the ones that benefit the most to keep it the same.