Long distance relationships : the secret for fuel cell success? fuel cell developers and integrators form trans-oceanic partnerships to crash through cultural barriers

The varieties of viable fuel cell applications and widely varying regional market conditions have created global partnerships among entities with complementary attributes. Although it may appear that domestic liaisons among culturally similar players spawned from industry clusters should provide the clearest route to success in this industry, it is the intercontinental groupings which are demonstrating the most potential. This paper discussed the global fuel cell challenge and the vertical integration of multi-national partnerships. The paper also discussed the current global stationary market in perspective. Fuel cells require unique maintenance, support, and refueling including operator instruction and a new supply infrastructure. The paper addressed the fact that fuel cells represent a disruptive technology. A telecom backup status report was also presented. Other topics that were discussed included developing markets as well as specific examples of global organizations such as Canadian Ballard and Danish Dantherm Power and their fuel cell application solutions. It was concluded that after an inconsistent history, fuel cells have finally achieved viability in the real world. However, there is significant cultural resistance to their implementation in the United States. 4 figs