With the success of household fuel cells “Ene farm” (エネファーム) of which 14 million units were sold since 2009, NEDO now aims at SOFCs in the several hundred kW class, for use by restaurants, hairdressing salons, small medical and welfare facilities etc. Market introduction by participants of the NEDO programm on SOFCs (2013 – 2017) such as Denso and Toyota Motors is expected by 2017. SOFCs use ion-conductive ceramics as an electrolyte, the operating temperature is 700 ~ 900 ℃. In addition to hydrogen, natural gas can be used as a fuel.
NEDO news release, November 30, 2015
NEDO embarks on solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) for “small business fuel cells”, commercialization expected by 2017