AFC, Acciona to trial fuel cell generation for construction

The UK's AFC Energy and Spanish construction company Acciona are to trial AFC Energy's H-Power fuel cell platform as part of a strategy to decarbonize construction sites in Europe, the companies said June 1.

The two have agreed to hold field tests of a containerized 160 kW fuel cell system at a Spanish construction site in early 2021.

"Both hydrogen and ammonia are to be used to support comparative fuel evaluation within the system," AFC Energy said.

The cost of project is to be shared between the parties.

Decarbonization of construction is critical for achieving net zero carbon economies, the companies said.

"With an acute awareness emerging of the impact diesel generation from construction has on air quality post COVID-19, this objective is likely to be increasingly regulated and enforced by governments," AFC Energy said.

AFC's CEO Adam Bond said construction had seen "growing regulation, such as Europe's Non Road Mobile Machinery regulations, come into force and with that, a movement by constructors and contractors towards a more sustainable on site power generation alternative to diesel."

In addition to the fuel cell system, Acciona's test site would be supplied with a battery energy storage system and an ammonia cracker.

The tests would take place in the first quarter of 2021 subject to changes in Spanish government guidance on the coronavirus. Any future collaboration would be based on the trial results.

A comparison of cracked ammonia and hydrogen fuels would shed light on the safety, costs and logistics of the two fuels versus diesel in off-grid construction applications, the UK-based company said.

"As a more energy dense fuel with lower logistics and handling costs versus hydrogen in remote locations, adoption of ammonia could have a material impact on the fuel running costs of the fuel cell system," it said.

AFC Energy's alkaline fuel cell system is currently being deployed in electric vehicle chargers, off-grid decentralized power systems and industrial gas plants.

Spanish infrastructure and renewable energy conglomerate Acciona has been carbon-neutral since 2016, offsetting CO2 emissions which it could not directly reduce via its own 9.6 GW of renewable capacity, which produced 22 TWh/year.