SOFC History
Tubular Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Technology
For over 40 years, Siemens Power Generation, has been performing basic research and product development of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology, a clean, highly efficient energy conversion technology for providing high quality power at small, distributed sites.
In the late 1950s Westinghouse began experimenting with zirconium compounds. Along the way the principles of fuel cells were studied and zirconium oxide was selected as a candidate electrolyte.
This "stack" of fuel cells was constructed by Sir William Robert Grove in 1839