Cummins Takes Leadership Role in Promising Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Technology
by Blair Claflin, Director of Sustainability Communications
Cummins is quickly becoming the leader in a power technology for commercial and industrial uses that could be an important bridge to a carbon-neutral future and beyond.
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) can convert a higher percentage of a fossil fuel’s energy into power than combustion-based processes and can also use low- and no-carbon fuels such as hydrogen to generate power.
Cummins has been awarded two federal grants totaling $4.6 million to advance the commercialization of SOFC technology through separate projects demonstrating both the technology’s ability to convert fossil fuels into energy, and its potential to generate hydrogen and convert it into the ultra-clean energy that will power the future.
THE POTENTIAL BRIDGE
A $2.6 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant will help Cummins build a 20 kilowatt (kW) small-scale SOFC power system at the University of Connecticut, fueled by natural gas but able to use multiple fuels.
The system will run 5,000 hours to demonstrate its durability.
That’s not a big enough SOFC system to power a data center but systems can be aggregated together to provide energy resiliency, security and availability, sufficient for not only data centers but other commercial and industrial applications and microgrids, too.
