PASM and BOSCH are focusing on promising decentralized fuel cell systems for grid supply.

Stable and secure power generation is essential for telecommunications companies.
We guarantee the failure-free operation of the telecommunications network.
But Deutsche Telekom’s best network is also sustainable and energy-efficient.

The demand for electrical energy is increasing worldwide.
Future technologies that already work in industry today are in demand: That is why we are testing two stationary solid oxide fuel cell systems (SOFCs) from Bosch in a pilot project.
With these systems, it is possible to generate decentralized and very efficient sustainable electricity for use, for example, in grid technology facilities.

Since February 2022, two stationary solid oxide fuel cell systems from Bosch have been supplying the servers at a Telekom site.
They use an electrochemical process to convert natural gas or biomethane (possibly with a hydrogen admixture) into electrical energy, which also generates heat.
If green hydrogen produced with electricity from renewable energies is fed into the systems in the future, the SOFC systems will generate electricity and heat completely free of CO₂ emissions.

The innovative SOFC system is pioneering.
An SOFC unit contains several hundred cells, which are stacked in so-called stacks.
They are the heart of the unit, where the electrochemical process takes place.
An SOFC system generates around ten kilowatts (kW) of electricity and around three kilowatts of heat.
That is around 80,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electrical energy per year.
This is enough to cover the annual electricity requirements of more than 20 four-person households, for example.
The heat generated in the conversion process can be used to heat buildings or converted into cold using absorption chillers and then used to cool servers.

Overall, the fuel cells achieve an electrical efficiency of 60 percent when generating electricity.
By comparison, a lignite-fired power plant achieves an average electrical efficiency of just under 40 percent, while a hard coal or gas-fired power plant achieves around 45 percent.
With the SOFC system, the overall efficiency can be increased to over 85 percent with additional heat utilization.
Another point in favor of SOFC systems is their flexibility in terms of energy sources.
In the Berlin pilot project, PASM is currently using natural gas because there is no local hydrogen infrastructure.
In the long term, however, we would like to convert the two pilot plants to more sustainable energy sources.
Even when operating with natural gas, the SOFC system is clearly superior to other types of power generation in terms of environmental friendliness.
There are hardly any nitrogen oxides or particles, and CO₂ emissions are around two thirds lower than with coal-fired power generation in Germany.
If SOFC systems are operated with sustainably produced hydrogen in the future, CO₂ emissions will be zero.
Decentralized energy generation also has other advantages.
“The SOFC systems allow us to avoid grid losses and increase energy efficiency with the option of heat extraction at the individual locations,” says Bernd Schulte-Sprenger, CEO of PASM Power & Air Solutions .
At the same time, by generating its own electricity, Deutsche Telekom also avoids grid charges and thus saves costs.

The two SOFC units in Berlin still only provide a small proportion of the energy required at the site.
“Once the pilot phase has been successfully completed, we can imagine using the SOFC units as an important part of our sites – ideally, of course, powered by green hydrogen,” says Bernd Schulte-Sprenger.
These would be further important steps on the way to sustainable grid operation.