How our decentralized SOFC system meets your requirements

With our Bosch SOFC system, we generate electricity at efficiencies higher than 60 percent at beginning of life. An overall efficiency of more than 85 percent is possible if waste heat is utilized. Our SOFC system enables sector coupling directly on site. In addition to electricity as the main output, the heat cogenerated by the fuel cell can be used, for example, for nearby residential buildings.

When using natural gas as fuel, the fuel cell emits two-thirds less carbon than conventional coal-fired power plants. When running on pure hydrogen, the SOFC generates electricity and heat without any carbon emissions at all.

The Bosch SOFC keeps pace with digitalization. Every system is connected to the cloud. As an IoT device, it can acquire and link data based on the digital twin, a virtual model of the fuel cell. Service and maintenance personnel are then able to access data at any time and monitor the system in real time. And the SOFC takes this one step further, thanks to artificial intelligence (AI). AI enables predictive maintenance, which has a number of advantages, including a longer service life, reduced downtimes, and a reduction in manual, routine monitoring. Over the long term, it will be possible to integrate the solid oxide fuel cell system into existing ecosystems – for example, in power management and building automation platforms.

The energy transition requires that we move away from fossil fuels like coal and oil. The future is in renewable energies and pure hydrogen, which can be used to generate carbon emissions-free, sustainable electricity.

However, a conversion to pure hydrogen doesn’t happen overnight. This is where the Bosch SOFC fuel cell system comes into play because it can already be fueled by natural gas or biomethane and, in the future, by pure hydrogen, making fuel cell technology an important element for successfully transforming the energy sector today.

But the Bosch SOFC offers even more flexibility. Depending on energy requirements, it can be freely scaled – from the individual unit to the entire power plant. A single SOFC unit generates about 10 kilowatts. Five units connected in a system can on average supply sustainable electricity to a standard supermarket or more than 100 four-person households in an urban quarter.

All the Bosch SOFC needs to generate power is fuel in the form of natural gas, biomethane, or hydrogen. Because our SOFC system uses the existing gas infrastructure, power can be generated independently of the grid and electricity from the SOFC systems can even be fed into the power grid. In this case, the gas network simultaneously serves as an energy storage system.

Moreover, the energy is produced right where it’s needed and no longer has to be transported via power lines spanning kilometers. A decentralized power supply is also more reliable and resistant to power outages.

The individual units of our SOFC are independent elements connected together to form a stable overall system. In this way, we guarantee resistance to failure without additional backup solutions.

With SOFC systems, security of supply can be maintained independently of grid stability and shutdowns. This is especially important when supplying energy to critical infrastructure like healthcare, the food industry and food trade, water supply, and wastewater disposal, and even transportation, and telecommunications.