India9 Nov 2022 07:24
Afc should be involved
In Germany, it is taken for granted that every household is connected to the power grid and power outages are a rare occurrence. In many parts of the world, however, the situation is quite different. There is often no nationwide power supply and at best unstable regional grids. In India alone, 100 million people are still not connected to the power grid. Many companies there are not supplied with electricity by power plants, but by diesel generators. In total, these produce around 940 million tons of CO2 and although they generate an output of 140 gigawatts, they still only account for 30% of total electric power. Because fuel is in short supply in some areas of India and is frequently stolen, there are daily power outages that can last up to eight hours, or even longer in some cases.
In the longer term, diesel generators must be replaced by emission-free alternatives. Fuel cells, in particular, are a promising option here. Technically and economically, fuel cells offer a viable alternative to battery systems due to their system properties, especially in emergency and backup power supply. Over the next three years, a research team made up of members of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA, the Chair Manufacturing and Remanufacturing Technology at the University of Bayreuth and CBC GmbH & Co. KG from Ibbenbüren in North Rhine-Westphalia will be developing a fuel cell-based decentralized power generator and running practical trials.