Market opportunities for fuel cells in Argentina

• Main Authors: Marschoff, C.M., Lande, J., Espindola, S.
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: 30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION; FUEL CELLS; ECONOMIC ANALYSIS; MARKET; POWER SYSTEMS; ANTARCTICA; ARGENTINA; ELECTRICITY; INVESTMENT; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; ELECTRIC UTILITIES; FUEL CELL POWER PLANTS; NATURAL GAS FUEL CELLS; HYDROCARBON FUEL CELLS; Argentina; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/460266; https://www.osti.gov/biblio/460266; https://doi.org/10.2172/460266

Electricity in Argentina is mainly supplied through the National Interconnected System (NIS) grid, that manages the generation of all medium and large size utilities (thermal, hydro and nuclear) in the country. However, there are still large areas not linked to the NIS: electricity there either comes from utilities that mainly work with diesel groups, or is obtained by individuals from 1-5 kW generators (mostly IC powered, although some wind and solar devices also exist). Finally, in many low-income rural and semi-rural sites, there is no electric generation at all. In this context, we wish to show that there is an important market niche where fuel cells should be competitive and that this market size justifies a detailed investment analysis. Thus, we have performed economic calculations in three sites, which are representative samples of different structural situations, in which costs of fuel cell produced electricity are compared to presently existing devices. Also, calculations were carried out for use of fuel cells in Antarctica.