Overview
The EU co-funded project ene.field has deployed more than 1,000 residential fuel cell Combined Heat and Power (micro-CHP) installations, across 11 key European countries. It represents a step change in the volume of fuel cell micro-CHP (micro FC-CHP) deployment in Europe and a meaningful step towards commercialisation of the technology.
The programme brings together 11 mature European micro FC-CHP manufacturers into a common analysis framework to deliver trials across all of the available fuel cell CHP technologies. Fuel cell micro-CHP trials will be installed and actively monitored in dwellings across the range of European domestic heating markets, dwelling types and climatic zones, which will lead to an invaluable dataset on domestic energy consumption and micro-CHP applicability across Europe.
By learning the practicalities of installing and supporting a fleet of fuel cells with real customers, ene.field partners will take the final step before they can begin commercial roll-out. An increase in volume deployment for the manufacturers involved will stimulate cost reduction of the technology by enabling a move from hand-built products towards serial production and tooling.
The ene.field project also brings together over 30 utilities, housing providers and municipalities to bring the products to market and explore different business models for micro-CHP deployment.
The data produced by ene.field will be used to provide a fact base for micro FC-CHP, including a definitive environmental lifecycle assessment and cost assessment on a total cost of ownership basis.
To inform clear national strategies on micro-CHP within Member States, ene.field will establish the macro-economics and CO2 savings of the technologies in their target markets and make recommendations on the most appropriate policy mechanisms to support the commercialisation of domestic micro-CHP across Europe. Finally ene.field will assess the socio-economic barriers to widespread deployment of micro-CHP and disseminate clear position papers and advice for policy makers to encourage further roll out.
