Europe’s leading manufacturer of solid oxide fuel cells Elcogen has signed an agreement with the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland for acquiring all of VTT’s IPR regarding fuel cell stack technology.
VTT and Elcogen also agreed to continue cooperation with the aim to develop a commercial 1kW fuel cell stack by 2012 and a 10kW stack by 2013. VTT has developed a unique design that enables them to minimize temperature gradient in the stacks.
Stack components are designed to be mass-manufacturable at a low cost. Combining Elcogen’s high-performance intermediate temperature SOFC cells and VTT’s stack solutions, Elcogen will have a highly competitive product that will allow it to better meet the requirements of the fuel cell system manufacturers.
Elcogen founder and CEO Enn Õunpuu said:
“The aim of this transaction is to increase Elcogen’s competitive position in the expansion of the fuel cell market by uniting the valuable knowledge of both parties.
“Our management team has deep expertise in SOFCs, materials science, multi-physics, electrochemistry, ceramics, manufacturing technologies, product design and fuel cell systems. More than 350 man years of R&D have been invested in Elcogen . “
