Ballard to provide megawatt-scale clean power generation system in Bordeaux, France

VANCOUVER—Ballard Power Systems has signed an agreement to provide a 1 megawatt ClearGen fuel cell distributed generation system for Hydrogène de France. The fuel cell system will be deployed at an AkzoNobel sodium chlorate chemical plant in Bordeaux Métropole, France. Ballard will also provide engineering services support for the program.

The program agreement is structured in two phases. Under the first phase, targeted for completion in mid-2016, Ballard will receive an initial payment of 1.7 million euro, or $2.4 million, to undertake engineering services and core component development work. Under the second phase, targeted for completion in 2017, Ballard will receive an additional 1.7 million euro for onsite assembly and commissioning, subject to Hydrogène de France securing necessary funding to complete the project.

“This Technology Solutions transaction is another demonstration of Ballard’s competency in addressing customer needs in a variety of application areas,” Kevin Colbow, Ballard’s vice-president of Technology Solutions, said. “This program will benefit from our experience with the one megawatt ClearGen system that has been successfully operating to provide peak power at Toyota’s Torrance California campus over the last two years.”

The Ballard system is powered by proprietary proton exchange membrane fuel cells, which will enable HDF to generate electricity and supply it to the local grid.

The ClearGen system is suitable for locations that have a demand for clean energy, high incumbent utility rates, and a ready source of hydrogen. The Vancouver-based cleantech company said potential customers include chemical producers, remote communities and utilities with a renewable power mandate. In the case of AkzoNobel, production processes used at its chemical facility in Bordeaux Métropol generate by-product hydrogen which will be used to fuel the ClearGen system.