Last month the team at ACAL Energy celebrated a key milestone in its quest to commercialise its FlowCath® technology, which promises to deliver low-cost fuel cells for stationary power and transport applications.
FlowCath® is a catalyst solution that drastically reduces the amount of platinum required on the cathode side of the fuel cell – platinum being one of the main contributors to fuel cell cost.
We have been working with ACAL Energy to help integrate a 3kW FlowCath® … Continue reading →
Today was another busy day assisting our clients with uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), otherwise known as ‘standby power systems’. It is so important for clients to use qualified UPS engineers, as non-specialist electricians can sometimes miss crucial checks and testing for UPS.
My first job of the day was to install REMO for a client with an existing UPS system. REMO is our remote monitoring system, which communicates with and carefully monitors UPS systems, generators … Continue reading →
It’s been a busy start to 2012 for the fuel cell side of our business. We took part in another high-profile industry event in March – the London Hydrogen Partnership’s (LHP) stationary hydrogen fuel cell showcase. As members of the LHP we were particularly keen to see more emphasis on the value of fuel cells for stationary power applications, and holding a showcase day, which brought together a number of fuel cell experts from around the UK, proved … Continue reading →
My first appointment of the week was a planned maintenance visit, or “PMV”, to service a 330kVA generator. It was due for a thorough service and as it utilises industry standard engine and alternator, I made sure that I took a complete range of spares with me. As well as taking the generator spares, these days it’s important that our service engineers take the right documents with them, including a service visit sheet. Customers quite rightly ask for … Continue reading →
It’s been a positive start to 2012 with the announcement of some high-profile, early adopters of hydrogen fuel cell technology.
We donated a 75W fuel cell to the Greater London Authority to light the star on the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree for the duration of the festive season. We also installed our remote monitoring system, REMO, to track how the fuel cell performed from our offices in Hungerford.
Marks & Spencer has signed a pilot agreement with ITM … Continue reading →
Data centre operators are looking for alternative power supplies that are cleaner, more reliable and more available than grid power.
Fuel cells fulfil these criteria and are a solution worth considering. At the moment natural gas fuel cells are the only commercially viable option for providing prime power to data centres. Other units that use alternative fuels – such as methanol – are not yet capable of generating sufficient power.
In case you haven’t heard, we’re on the edge of an energy crisis in the UK. It may not be common knowledge yet, but the National Grid has to work harder than ever before to balance supply and demand. And demand is increasing faster than supply. However, if you are the proud owner of a diesel or gas-powered standby generator that you use to provide backup power for your business, the UK energy crisis might be an opportunity … Continue reading →
There’s no arguing with the fact that data centres and server rooms use a lot of energy. And one of the biggest contributors to the energy bill is the cost of data centre cooling, especially when using conventional chiller units. Cooling server rooms consume a staggering 1% of the world’s energy. It’s not surprising then that data centre operators are increasingly interested in the concept of free cooling or the use of fresh air.
There are several ways to configure an uninterruptible power system (UPS), and each topology offers different benefits. To support an 80 kVA load, we could use a:
Traditional approach: single 100 kVA unit
Parallel approach: two 50 kVA units
Modular approach: nine 10 kVA units
Although the capital costs are lower, the traditional approach is the least efficient way to support the load. It’s not scalable, which means the UPS won’t always properly support the load and if … Continue reading →
Some manufacturers offer high-efficiency standby power solutions with ‘eco-mode’ and ‘high-capacity’ UPS.
Eco-mode UPS
Smarter eco-mode systems constantly monitor the incoming power quality and switch from efficient eco-mode to the more resilient (but less efficient) double-conversion mode when they detect a power disturbance.
They offer the same level of protection against voltage disturbances as a permanently online UPS, but because the inverter stays in standby mode for most of the time, they dramatically reduce overall power consumption.
Last month the team at ACAL Energy celebrated a key milestone in its quest to commercialise its FlowCath® technology, which promises to deliver... Read more
