Norwegian cleantech company TECO 2030 and its partner independent development company AVL have completed the world’s ‘first’ fuel cell stack developed and designed for heavy-duty and marine applications. 

“It’s amazing to be able to physically touch the first TECO 2030 fuel cell stack. I would like to thank all the team members at TECO 2030 and our development partner AVL who have worked hard to ensure this project has progressed according to schedule over the past months and years, enabling us to proceed with several pilot projects during 2023,” said Tore Enger, CEO of TECO 2030.

The occasion was celebrated in Vancouver, Canada, where AVL has its global centre of excellence for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell stacks.

Falko Berg, Manager and Technical Product Responsible for PEM Systems at AVL List, said: “It’s great to see the fuel cell stack that TECO 2030 is industrialising inching towards serial production. Today’s milestone marks the next logical and important step towards launching the fuel cell factory in Narvik, its class-leading fuel cell system and finally decarbonising the marine industry.”

The cleantech company said that fuel cell stacks can be combined to supply the megawatts of output needed for applications such as ship propulsion, auxiliary power, and other heavy-duty applications.

TECO 2030 plans to assemble and test the first FCM400 (Fuel Cell Module 400 kW) during the summer of 2023 at AVL’s s facility in Graz, Austria.