Global Alkaline Fuel Cells Market

Description

Introduction

For the world’s energy portfolio, Fuel cells are an important enabling technology and have the potential to revolutionize the way nations power their countries. Offering more-efficient, cleaner alternatives to the combustion of gasoline and other fossil fuels, Fuel cells have the potential to replace the internal-combustion engine in vehicles and provide power in portable and stationary power applications because they are fuel-flexible, energy-efficient and clean.

Alongside a limited number of commercial applications, Alkaline Fuel Cells (AFCs) continued to be used on NASA space shuttles throughout several programs. Today, AFC?s are being developed to power commercial buildings, homes, passenger vehicles and even small devices such as laptop computers. Over a large range of sizes (from 1 kW to many MW) fuel cell systems can be extremely efficient. When heat production is combined with power generation, these can achieve overall efficiencies of 80% or more.
Fuel cell systems with hydrogen production and storage can provide energy for heating and cooling, fuel for vehicles and electricity to power our communities. These offer a unique opportunity for energy independence, highly reliable energy services, and economic benefits. Owing to increased shipments across the globe and rising market of fuel cell powered electric vehicles, the global fuel cell market is expected to showcase robust growth.

Market Dynamics

Favorable incentives from governments of several countries for the development and adoption of fuel cell vehicle and growing environmental concerns and is one of the major growth factor for global alkaline fuel cell market. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), USA regulations to curb the greenhouse gases will lead the shift in focus of automotive manufacturers towards fuel cell technology over conventional sources to reduce carbon monoxide emission.

In 2015, major players such as Ballard Power Systems acquired Protonex Technology Corp. Fuel cell developer PowerCell based in Sweden established a new branch in Germany, expanding its business that will increase the supply of fuel cells into the European market and manufacturing capacity. Boost in infrastructure in various countries to provide hydrogen filling facilities for public is expected to raise the demand for fuel cell powered vehicles. High initial investments and high cost of fuel cell electric vehicles, however, are expected to hinder the growth of global fuel cell market.

Market Segmentation

Classification of Fuel cells are primarily by the kind of electrolyte they employ. It determines the kind of chemical reactions that take place in the cell, the kind of catalysts required, the temperature range in which the cell operates, the fuel required, and other factors. The characteristics affect the applications for which these cells are most suitable. Thus, there are several types of fuel cells currently under development, each with its own advantages, limitations, and potential applications.
? Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cells
? Direct Methanol Fuel Cells
? Alkaline Fuel Cells
? Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cells
? Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells
? Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
? Regenerative Fuel Cells

Regional/Geographic Analysis

Fuel cell market in North-America dominated the global fuel cell market with more than 50% revenue share in 2015. Manufacturers in North-America shipped fuel cell more than 150 MW across the globe, accounting 30% more than shipments from Europe and Asia-Pacific. Besides large-scale stationary fuel cell systems, shipments also include fuel cell units for telecommunication backup systems and material handling equipment?s, exported to Korea, Japan, and some other countries. Closely followed by North-America is the Asia-Pacific region with more than 35% market share in global fuel cell market. Asian shipments in 2015 also witnessed significant growth with more than 100 MW shipments in 2015.

Key Players

AFC market has immense potential to grow in certain markets owing to improved efficiencies in niche applications. Enhanced research and development activities coupled with expanding niche applications and preference of AFCs offer great opportunities for the market growth in the next few years. Notable players in alkaline fuel cells market include Fuel Cell Energy, Toshiba, Bloom Energy, Ballard Power Systems Inc. and AFC Energy Plc.