The Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) infrastructure in JÜLICH is exceptional. The research group is one of the largest in Europe and the world, and possesses major research facilities in line with that scaling. The SOFC specific facilities (distributed across 5 specialised institutes) are backed by world class engineering, chemical analysis, (super) computing and other relevant services from Jülich facilities. JÜLICH probably produces more scientific publications in the field than any other single-site organisation – this results from the scale of the infrastructure and the number of experts employed in the field. Significant competence (exceeding critical mass) is maintained in all relevant research areas from very fundamental materials development through to the design and construction of prototype, pre-commercial systems. In addition to the internal research programme and cooperation projects (German, EU and international), contract commercial research is carried on in the field on behalf of companies such as BMW and ElringKlinger, but also SME’s. Technology transfer is a core mission of JÜLICH.

In addition to the SOFC infrastructure, JÜLICH is also home to a world-leading direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) group, and also a number of other activites that relate to the H2&FC fuel cell energy chain. The SOFC infrastructure in this case also acts on behalf of these with respect to this project proposal.