Good news for fuel cells. On October 28, 2009, President Obama signed the 2010 Energy &
Water appropriations bill which includes funding for the DoE Hydrogen
Program and other offices at approximately 2009 levels for both stationary
and transportation hydrogen technologies.
A recent news brief in Worldwide Independent Power has a piece from Cummins, who make huge numbers of diesel engines, stating that within a couple of years they will have commercialized a small SOFC – it implies less than 100 kW, and in about 7 years a 100 kW SOFC……
A joint industry press release about President Obama’s signing of the
budget:
Funding a Diverse Portfolio of Clean Vehicle and Energy Technologies is
Right Choice for America
<http://www.hydrogenassociation.org/policy/resources/diversePortfolio.pdf>
This budget is a clear signal that America strongly supports the development
of hydrogen energy technologies and bringing new products to the
marketplace. The industry rallied in the face of a surprising challenge this
year and helped to educate and encourage Congress to restore funding for
transportation applications that had been proposed to be zeroed from the
2010 DoE budget.
Major car manufacturers have restated their commitments to deploy hydrogen
vehicles; sales are increasing for stationary power and distributed hydrogen
generation; forward-looking countries like Germany, Japan, and Iceland are
ramping up investment in their hydrogen production and fueling
infrastructures.