Project CISTEM, funded by the FCH JU under its 2012 call for proposals, is now concluded. The project aimed to develop a new fuel cell (FC) based CHP technology, which is suitable for fitting into large scale peak shaving systems coupled to renewable energy sources and in SMART grid applications.
CISTEM produced excellent results on high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane (HT-PEM) fuel cell systems targeting combined heat and power applications. The system developed under the project boasted an electrical efficiency of 46% and a total efficiency of 91%, while degradation rates as low as 4μV/h allow to forecast lifetimes exceeding 40,000h. This is one significant step forward to bringing this technology closer to the market.