As fuel cell products are relatively far from commercialisation, the following selection is provided for illustrative purposes only.  There are dozens of products under development throughout the world; however, it is unlikely that any of these will be commercially available before 2010 at the earliest.  However, extensive field trials are under way in Europe and Japan, demonstrating progress towards acceptable performance, lifetime and cost targets.

The two main types of fuel cells being developed for micro CHP applications are PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) and SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cells).  The former are also being developed for automotive applications and form the majority of systems.  However, SOFC units have the advantage of reforming Natural Gas into Hydrogen without the need for a separate reforming process, reducing the cost and complexity of the unit; balanced against this is the very high operating temperature of such fuel cells and their need for continuous heat output (even when there is no thermal demand).  Although this feature does raise some challenges, it has recently become apparent that the relatively low operating temperatures of PEM fuel cells has limitations in domestic CHP applications with respect to the provision of hot water at a high enough temperature.  This, combined with the higher potential electrical efficiency of SOFC units, seems to favour SOFC in domestic CHP applications.

For further discussion of the relative merits of fuel cell types see section on papers.

For information on products under development, click on the respective SOFC and PEM links below.