New Energies, new possibilities

COLUMBUS, Ind.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) today announced it will open a new facility in Herten, Germany, which will initially focus on the assembly of fuel cell systems for global transportation leader Alstom’s hydrogen trains.

As a global power leader, Cummins has a strong presence in Europe. Employing more than 6,700 people across Europe, Cummins’ European footprint includes seven manufacturing sites, 20 distribution sites and more than 300 dealers. The company already has alternative power facilities located in the United Kingdom, Belgium and Germany, and the location in Herten will enable Cummins, through its Hydrogenics Business, to produce a high volume of fuel cell systems for customers, further strengthening its commitment to hydrogen technologies in Europe.

“The choice to open this new fuel cell systems site in Germany is a testament to Cummins’ commitment to accelerate our hydrogen capabilities. This facility will better position us to provide critical support to customers in Europe and strategically strengthen our position to be a leader in shaping tomorrow’s hydrogen economy,” said Amy Davis, President of New Power at Cummins. Cummins also owns a facility in Oevel, Belgium, responsible for the assembly and integration of both PEM and alkaline electrolyzers.

With capacity of 10 megawatts per year, the Herten facility will manufacture one megawatt of fuel cell systems a month for Alstom’s hydrogen-powered trains, called the Coradia iLint, as well as provide aftermarket support. Each fuel cell system will include six power modules (fuel cell stacks), a cooling system, piping, air blowers and air filters. Power modules take air from outside and hydrogen from the hydrogen storage tank to produce power.

The new facility will include space for both manufacturing and research and development, with plans to expand in the future to support fuel cell stack refurbishment. Four testing stations will supplement existing global fuel cell and hydrogen production research and development capabilities.

Located on the site of an old mine, the facility is part of a state-of-the-art hydrogen park. The City of Herten, the site’s landlord is thrilled to see the park come to life.

“To have a global player like Cummins join our park is fantastic,” said Matthias Mueller, Mayor of Herten. “We are focused on innovation and the clean future of transport and are glad that Cummins also will be working to achieve this goal.”

In September 2019, Cummins acquired the Hydrogenics Corporation, which provided Cummins with both PEM, alkaline fuel cells, and electrolyzers used to generate hydrogen. Today, Cummins fuel cell and hydrogen technologies power a variety of applications and installations across Europe, including delivery trucks, refuse trucks, trains and one of Europe’s most advanced hydrogen production facilities.

Anticipated to open in July 2021, the facility will create new jobs in Herten in the clean technology sector. These new roles will join Cummins team of engineers located across four continents dedicated to innovating the company’s alternative power technology.

About Cummins Inc.
Cummins Inc., a global power leader, is a corporation of complementary business segments that design, manufacture, distribute and service a broad portfolio of power solutions. The company’s products range from diesel, natural gas, electric and hybrid powertrains and powertrain-related components including filtration, aftertreatment, turbochargers, fuel systems, controls systems, air handling systems, automated transmissions, electric power generation systems, batteries, electrified power systems, hydrogen generation and fuel cell products. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana (U.S.), since its founding in 1919, Cummins employs approximately 61,600 people committed to powering a more prosperous world through three global corporate responsibility priorities critical to healthy communities: education, environment and equality of opportunity. Cummins serves its customers online, through a network of company-owned and independent distributor locations, and through thousands of dealer locations worldwide and earned about $2.3 billion on sales of $23.6 billion in 2019. See how Cummins is powering a world that’s always on by accessing news releases and more information at https://www.cummins.com/always-on

COLUMBUS, Ind.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) has announced the company received two federal grants totaling $4.6 million to advance commercialization of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology, which could play a critical role in helping commercial and industrial customers reduce their carbon impact while providing energy resiliency and cutting costs.

SOFCs can convert fossil fuels into energy much more efficiently than combustion-based processes and can also use low- and no-carbon fuels such as hydrogen to generate power. They have the potential to be a bridge to a carbon-neutral future and much more.

“We need every tool we can get to address the world’s climate challenges and other environmental issues,” said Thad Ewald, Vice President of Corporate Strategy at Cummins. “Solid oxide fuel cells give our customers another way to achieve their environmental sustainability goals.”

SOFCs use a ceramic electrolyte to convert the energy in a fuel to power through a series of electrochemical reactions. With a continuous supply of fuel and oxygen, the fuel cells can be linked or stacked together to power a variety of applications.

Compared to combustion processes, SOFCs are capable of converting a significantly higher percentage of a fossil fuel’s energy into electricity while producing far less heat-trapping gases and emissions than an internal combustion engine using a petroleum-based fuel, or a coal-burning power plant.

Advocates envision a day in the near future when solid oxide fuel cells regularly power major energy users like data centers, removing them from an increasingly over-burdened electrical grid.

The grants from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will help fund two projects demonstrating SOFCs’ potential. A $2.6 million DOE grant will help Cummins build a 20 kilowatt (kW) small-scale SOFC power system at the University of Connecticut, fueled by natural gas but able to use multiple fuels. It will run 5,000 hours to demonstrate its durability.

That’s not a big enough SOFC system to power a data center but systems can be aggregated together to provide energy resiliency, security and availability, sufficient for not only data centers but other commercial and industrial applications and microgrids, too.

Cummins’ proposal calls for developing a system that would be available at a price point below $1,000/kW with the flexibility and robustness for use in smaller and larger systems. The proposal calls for testing to begin in 2021.

A second project funded with the help of a $2 million DOE grant will look at the cost, performance and reliability of a reversible fuel cell or R-SOFC. It can run as a traditional SOFC or as a solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) that can split steam to separate hydrogen and oxygen.

This increases Cummins’ already market leading portfolio of electrolyzers to generate hydrogen, including Proton Exchange Membrane and alkaline technologies. The DOE grant proposal calls for building on a Cummins proprietary thermal spray technology to develop an advanced metal substrate or surface resulting in a 50% cost reduction by using less metal and cutting processing costs.

Cummins is quickly emerging as the leader in SOFCs for commercial and industrial power. The company’s novel spray technology, for example, enables Cummins to achieve larger cells, higher power densities, increased reliability and lower costs. The company’s industry leading cell and stack size reduces system costs and complexity while providing a modular building block suitable for a variety of applications. The company also uses commodity stainless steel in its cells rather than more expensive and brittle ceramics used by some competitors.

The company’s work on SOFCs is consistent with PLANET 2050, Cummins’ environmental sustainability strategy adopted in 2019 to address climate change and other environmental issues. The strategy includes science-based goals aligned with the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius by the middle of the century.

Want to learn more about Cummins investments in SOFCs and other fuel cell technologies? Join company leaders including Chairman and CEO Tom Linebarger at 10:30 a.m. (EST) Nov. 16 for Cummins’ Hydrogen Day. Click here to register.

About Cummins Inc.

Cummins Inc., a global power leader, is a corporation of complementary business segments that design, manufacture, distribute and service a broad portfolio of power solutions. The company’s products range from diesel, natural gas, electric and hybrid powertrains and powertrain-related components including filtration, aftertreatment, turbochargers, fuel systems, controls systems, air handling systems, automated transmissions, electric power generation systems, batteries, electrified power systems, hydrogen generation and fuel cell products. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana (U.S.), since its founding in 1919, Cummins employs approximately 61,600 people committed to powering a more prosperous world through three global corporate responsibility priorities critical to healthy communities: education, environment and equality of opportunity. Cummins serves its customers online, through a network of company-owned and independent distributor locations, and through thousands of dealer locations worldwide and earned about $2.3 billion on sales of $23.6 billion in 2019. See how Cummins is powering a world that’s always on by accessing news releases and more information at https://www.cummins.com/always-on.