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Technology and Program Market Data – Fuel Cell Technologies
This Web page includes a summary of market data for the Fuel Cell Technologies Program. Data includes market penetration; industry trends; cost, price, and performance trends; policy and market drivers; as well as future outlook.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory led an effort initiated by the Strategic Planning and Analysis group of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) to produce a full report, which this page summarizes. The following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.
2007 Fuel Cell Technologies Market Report
The 2007 Fuel Cell Technologies Market Report (PDF 973 KB) describes data compiled in 2008 on trends in the fuel cell industry for 2007. The report includes some comparison to two previous years. It begins with a discussion of worldwide trends in units shipped and financing for the fuel cell industry for 2007. It continues by focusing on the North American and U.S. markets. After providing this industry-wide overview, the report identifies trends for each of the major fuel cell applications—stationary power, portable power, and transportation—including, data on the range of fuel cell technologies. Next, the report discusses industry trends in hydrogen stations for automotive applications. Finally, it examines other news relevant to the industry, including hydrogen and fuel cell studies and tax incentives for the use of fuel cells and combined heat and power (CHP) technologies. Highlights include:
- Worldwide fuel cell shipments increased 70% from more than 7,000 units in 2006 to approximately 12,000 units in 2007.
- Increased fuel cell shipments were accompanied by increased fuel cell production capacity across all regions in 2006 and 2007. The greatest absolute increase in fuel cell shipments came in Europe both years. The greatest percentage increase in fuel cell shipments came in Europe in 2006 (300%) and North America in 2007 (250%).
- Worldwide venture capital (VC) and private equity investment in fuel cells was $188 million in 2007, down from $484 million in 2006.
- The number of fuel cells shipped by North American developers increased three-fold and accounted for more than a third of all shipments in 2007 after accounting for less than a quarter of shipments in 2006.
- The number of small stationary fuel cell shipments—and the commercial viability of stationary units—rebounded in North American in 2007. However, the number of U.S. stationary demonstration projects, which fell from more than 50 projects in 2003, 2004, and 2005 to 33 projects in 2006, dropped to 10 projects in 2007.
- Regardless of the number of demonstration projects, the proportion of projects in each power range remained relatively unchanged. This trend suggests that even as the fuel cell industry begins to experience some commercial success, companies in each stationary market segment continue to see either value in or a need for pre-commercial RD&D.
- Large stationary units continue to increase in size. The year (2007) saw the continuation of a trend in increasing power of installed units that started in 2001. The ratio of power (MW) to units nearly doubled from 2006 to 2007.
- Despite the cost benefits of distributed hydrogen production from natural gas, the majority of new fueling stations in 2006 and 2007 used hydrogen produced on-site from electrolysis or delivered hydrogen.
- Three studies released in 2007 and 2008 indicate the potential, challenges, and potential solutions to those challenges for commercialization.
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