Today, Nexceris, LLC announced that it was awarded $3M by the U.S. Department of Energy to accelerate commercialization of its proprietary reversible solid oxide cell (RSOC) technology. The project is intended to fulfill DOE’s objective of accelerating the pace of commercialization for small-scale solid oxide hybrid power systems using solid oxide cells for hydrogen production and power generation.
In announcing the funding opportunity Secretary of Energy Dan Brouilette previously stated, “The Department of Energy plays an important role in advancing innovation to provide clean and reliable energy for the American people.” In the same announcement, Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steven Winberg said, “SOFC that are ready to be utilized by commercial customers will help us meet global emissions targets, as well as make hydrogen production more widely available than ever before.”
In the awarded effort, Nexceris and its partners, Northwestern University and the Colorado School of Mines, will scale its stack technology to the prototype system level and demonstrate world-class performance to achieve hydrogen production costs of less than $2/kg at a large-scale system level (100 kW or larger). The project capstone will be a pressurized stack demonstration, demonstrating the production of hydrogen, its storage, and reverse oxidation to generate electricity using solid oxide cell technology.
The solid oxide cell being developed in the program could play an enabling role in emerging Power to X value streams, in which hydrogen generated by electrolysis can be used to provide seasonal energy storage, or serve as a feedstock to fuels or high value chemicals. The RSOC design being developed in this program will utilize a single energy conversion system to produce hydrogen and convert it back to electricity, reducing the size and capital cost of industrial installations.
CEO Kyle Shen, in making the announcement stated, “This RSOC project aligns well with Nexceris’ vision to create a better world through energy innovations. We are proud of our ability to successfully commercialize green technologies, and we are excited to partner with the U.S. Department of Energy to bring another sustainable technology to market. Demonstrating RSOC creates an important opportunity broaden the energy storage approaches available to the Nation’s grid and U.S. utilities.”
Nexceris’ CTO, Scott Swartz, said, “This is a great opportunity for Nexceris to demonstrate how our advanced SOC stack materials, designs and stack technology can enable highly efficient hydrogen production and energy storage. Nexceris and our partners are grateful to the U.S. Department of Energy for the financial support.”
