News

Acumentrics, Sumitomo Form SOFC Joint Venture

September 01, 2003 by Jeff Shepard

Acumentrics Corp. (Westwood, MA), a developer of solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), and Sumitomo Corp. (Japan) announced the formation of Acumentrics Japan Co. The purpose of the new company will be to market and sell Acumentrics' proprietary, tubular SOFC power systems throughout Japan. The formation of the new company comes on the successful conclusion of a year-long market and fuel cell technology study.

Acumentrics and Sumitomo will initially concentrate on modifying Acumentrics' prototype natural-gas-powered, rapid-start, tubular SOFC systems for the Japanese market, specifically targeting 2kW to 10kW residential and small commercial applications. Acumentrics will be solely responsible for SOFC technology while Sumitomo will be responsible for market requirements and actual marketing of the fuel cell products. Future products may extend beyond 100kW for applications such as large commercial power and transmission congestion relief. It is also anticipated that other major Japanese corporations will soon join and contribute to the development of the products.