Who we are

Created in 1990, the vision of the AFC TCP is to make a significant contribution to addressing the opportunities and barriers to fuel cell commercialization by fostering the development of fuel cell technologies and their application on an international basis and conveying key messages to the community, the International Energy Agency (IEA), policy makers and general public as appropriate. The AFC TCP achieves these goals by sharing recent developments in research, development and deployment in the field of fuel cells with the Energy Technology Network (ETN) and wider audiences including policy makers. This includes dissemination activities of the Executive Committee (ExCo) and by linking activities to national stakeholders (national governments, policy makers, companies and research institutions).

Members

To date, the AFC TCP currently has 18 member countries: Austria, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark,  France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and USA as well as 3 organizational members (sponsors: Chemistry department of the Federal University of Sao Carlos (Brazil), VTT Technical Research Center (Finland) and the  DSI National Center of Competence - Hydrogen Infrastructure (South Africa)

Mission

The AFC TCP's vision is to significantly contribute to addressing the opportunities and barriers to fuel cell commercialization by fostering the development of fuel cell technologies and their applications internationally. In accordance to the IEA´s Medium-Term Strategy, the mission of the AFC TCP is to:

  • Carry out coordinated research, technology development, and systems analysis in the fuel cell application areas of stationary and transportation power, as well as the technology-driven tasks of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), and electrolysis systems.
  • Conduct modeling work to provide data and results to answer key overarching questions. The work focuses on designing, developing, and applying suites of open-source computational fluid dynamic models of fuel cells and electrolyzers.
  • Support the information and dissemination networks facilitated through the CERT, its Working Parties, and the TCP's operations, which is strengthened through activities from the AFC TCP in fuel cell technologies.
  • Share the knowledge and outcomes and key messages of the TCP work with the R&D community, IEA Secretariat and IEA CERT, its Working Parties, other TCPs, policymakers, and the public as appropriate and to further advance the state of understanding of all Contracting Parties and Sponsors in the field of advanced fuel cells, support their market development as well as their business cases and applications.

Work Program

The focus of our work is located in six active Tasks (groups): members of which meet regularly to share technology and policy developments in their countries, companies and research institutions, for the benefit of everyone involved. The technology analysis task is organized on the ExCo level:

Technologies

Polymer electrolyte Fuel Cells

To reduce the cost and improve the performance of PEFCs, DMFCs and corresponding fuel cell systems.

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

To assist, through international co-operation, the development of SOFC technologies.

Electrolysis

To share information and learning on electrolyzer technologies and their applications.

Applications

Fuel Cells for Stationary Applications

To understand better how stationary fuel cell systems may be deployed in energy systems.

Fuel Cells for Transportation

To understand better how fuel cells may be deployed in transportation applications.

Technology Analysis

The AFC TCP publishes a report on the Deployment of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles and Hydrogen Refueling Station Infrastructure since 2018 in open-source format. The report presents the current deployment status of fuel cell vehicles for road transport and that of the hydrogen refueling station infrastructure. The annualy report presents and analyzes development trends based on previous data collections, for example: Analysis of the global development of vehicle and station numbers over the last reporting years;Analysis of the change in the shares from the previous year in those countries with the highest number of vehicles and stations; Combined analysis of vehicle-to-station ratios in selected countries ;Analysis of development trends for selected countries offering the most significant contribution to the current state of fuel cell mobility

Modelling of Fuel Cell Systems

To further develop the open source modelling approaches and knowledge base to facilitate the development of fuel cell technology.

The Technology Collaboration Programme on the Research, Development and Demonstration on Advanced Fuel Cells (Advanced Fuel Cells Technology Collaboration Programme, AFC TCP) functions within a framework created by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The activities of the AFC TCP are coordinated by the IEA’s Working Party on Energy End-use Technologies (EUWP). Views, findings and publications of the AFC TCP do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the IEA Secretariat or of its individual member countries.