The expectation of the RoRePower consortium is a potential market of several hundred units per year in the oil and gas infrastructure, and several thousands in the telecom sector. There are approximately 30 000 off-grid telecom towers worldwide and most of them are powered with diesel generators, which have to be replaced every 4 to 7 years.
To open these markets, demonstration of safety, reliability, and resilience is necessary as well as establishing the product as a commodity in regard of total cost of ownership. To compete with conventional solutions such as combustion engines or thermoelectric generators, SOFC systems have to achieve the following targets:
- Suitability of SOFC technology for off-grid power supply demonstrated
- Reduction of BOP component costs for prototypes (-40%)
- Reduce system costs significantly until the end of project (-30%)