The f-cell fuel cell trade fair is growing by leaps and bounds. Exhibitors have already reserved twice as much exhibition space as last year. The combined industry conference and trade fair will take place at the trade fair centre (Messe Stuttgart) in Stuttgart from 8 to 10 October 2012.

The f-cell fuel cell trade fair is growing by leaps and bounds. Exhibitors have already reserved twice as much exhibition space as last year. The combined industry conference and trade fair will take place at the trade fair centre (Messe Stuttgart) in Stuttgart from 8 to 10 October 2012. Exhibitors will be presenting solutions for all fuel cell applications as well as hydrogen production and storage technologies.

Stuttgart (eos) – "Roughly 100 exhibitors have registered to date. The f-cell trade fair from 8 to 10 October 2012 will be twice the size of last year's show," notes Peter Sauber, Managing Director of Peter Sauber Agentur Messen und Kongresse GmbH, which is organizing the industry forum comprising a trade fair and a conference in cooperation with Wirtschaftsförderung Region Stuttgart GmbH (WRS). "The decision to combine the presentation with the Battery+Storage trade fair and the move to the trade fair grounds in Stuttgart has paid off." The f-cell event has attracted a host of new exhibitors from Germany and other European countries. The show will also feature a joint Canadian stand for the first time this year, with four companies represented. The e-mobil BW TECHNOLOGIETAG will complement the event with presentations by other European exhibitors from France, Flanders, Denmark and elsewhere. Another unique feature of this year's event will be the research and development stand set up by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, at which research institutes and universities will be presenting their most recent contributions as providers of new impulses for economic development. Fuel cells and components, mobile, stationary and portable fuel cell applications, test rigs and research and development will be the main aspects covered by exhibitors in the field of fuel cell and hydrogen technology.

Stationary energy-supply solutions

Fuel cell heating systems are causing quite a stir in the field of building energy supply, as will be demonstrated, for example, by EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG at its stand (2D16). Within the context of the German government-funded "Callux" project, the energy supplier is involved in efforts to develop market-ready fuel cell heating systems, and has already installed more than seventy such systems in Baden-Württemberg. "In cooperation with producers, including Vaillant, Baxi Innotech and Hexis, we will be informing visitors about the current state of the art and presenting the newest generation of equipment systems for this energy solution of the future," explains Uwe Fritz, Managing Director of EnBW Vertrieb GmbH.

250-Kilowatt to 2.8-Megawatt power plants equipped with molten carbonate fuel cells are the focus of interest in the presentation by FuelCell Energy Solutions GmbH (Stand 1E14). "In addition to electricity, they produce high-quality heat, which can be used in air-conditioning systems or fed into a district heating network, for example," says Andreas Frömmel, the company's commercial director. "The system works with an autothermal reforming process that produces the hydrogen required by fuel cells from natural gas, biogas or sewage gas. Depending on the specific purpose, some of the gas obtained can be used for fuel cell vehicles, such as forklifts, for example."

Fuel cells for a wide range of applications
Numerous exhibitors are presenting holistic approaches as well as interesting solutions for stationary, portable and mobile applications. balticFuelCells GmbH of Schwerin (Stand 2F15) addresses system integrators from all fields of application with its "SuSy300" fuel cell subsystem. "Each roughly palm-sized SuSy module delivers 300 watts of electrical power. Power output can be adjusted as needed for a given application simply by linking multiple modules together," explains Stephan Möller from balticFuelCells GmbH. Customers benefit from the advantages of a plug-and-play principle and need no special fuel cell know-how themselves. The technical advantage of the small individual module: "The required power output is available just 2.5 seconds after the unit is activated. That eliminates the need for heavy, expensive buffer batteries in mobile or stationary applications, for example," notes Stephan Möller. Now that the SuSy modules have been standardized, it is possible to produce larger quantities, which will lower the price – as the manufacturer hopes – to well below 1,000 EUR per module within the foreseeable future.

Experience electromobility live
The various links in the electromobility value chain will be on display at the trade fair. Daimler will be represented as an OEM along with numerous suppliers and component manufacturers, including Lapp Kabel and HylionTec, to name just two examples. EnBW is also closely concerned with a range of issues of relevance to future mobility. The presentation will focus on the hydrogen refilling infrastructure for fuel cell vehicles as well as the diverse activities of EnBW in the field of electromobility.
Visitors can experience electromobility hands-on at the Ride&Drive event at the trade fair plaza, where they will have an opportunity to test-drive battery- and fuel cell powered electric vehicles. The list of Ride&Drive partners currently includes EnBW as well as Daimler, Proton Motor / Smith Electric Vehicles and Honda.

Hydrogen as an energy storage medium
The role of hydrogen as an energy storage medium in the new energy economy is a theme that runs like a continuous thread through the f-cell trade fair and conference. Hydrogen can be produced on a sustainable basis from water through electrolysis with "surplus" wind or solar power. In this way, energy can be stored in large quantities and later used to refill vehicles, fed into the natural gas network or reconverted to electricity by fuel cells. Concepts for hydrogen production and storage will be presented by the Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Stuttgart, H-TEC Systems of Lübeck, FutureE Fuell Cell Solutions GmbH of Nürtingen, Hydrogen Energy GWL GmbH of Frankfurt, WS Reformer GmbH of Renningen, the Canadian Hydrogenics Corporation as well as the Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Fraunhofer Institut für Solare Energiesysteme ISE, of Freiburg, among other firms and institutes.

Further information
The f-cell and Battery+Storage conferences as well as the e-mobil BW TECHNOLOGIETAG (10 October 2012), will take place concurrent to the f-cell and Battery+Storage trade fairs. A complete list of exhibitors, a visitor registration form and the f-cell and Battery+Storage conference programmes are available online at www.f-cell.de. Additional information about the Battery+Storage trade fair can be found at www.battery-storage.de. The programme for the e-mobil BW TECHNOLOGIETAG is provided at www.e-mobilbw.de.
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For further information and photographs please contact:

Peter Sauber Agentur
Messen und Kongresse GmbH
Lena Jauernig
Tel.: +49 711-656960-56
E-mail: f-cell@messe-sauber.de
Internet: www.f-cell.de

Press contact:
Eike Ostendorf-Servissoglou
Tel: +49 711 – 65227930
E-mail: eos@eoscript.de