FuelCell says SOEC system begins testing, validation at DOE’s Idaho National Lab

FuelCell (FCEL) Energy announced that its solid oxide electrolysis cell system has begun a testing and validation period at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory. The project, funded partially by a 2020 U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy award, will study how hydrogen production operations can help nuclear plants diversify and increase their profitability by switching between electricity production and hydrogen generation. The testing will also look at the potential of advanced small modular reactor designs paired with FuelCell Energy’s SOEC utility scale electrolzyers. The testing involves the largest electrolyzer to be studied at INL, and it is expected to show that the technology can reduce the cost of clean hydrogen production by converting 100% of the electricity and water fed into the system into zero carbon hydrogen. Additionally, the FuelCell Energy electrolyzer will produce 150 kilograms of hydrogen per day, from 250 kilowatts of nuclear energy-generated electricity, simulating the benefits of 100% efficiency when waste heat from the nuclear power plant is used. Unlike past testing INL has conducted on electrolysis “stacks,” the FuelCell Energy electrolyzer being studied is a fully integrated solid oxide electrolyzer system.