An extremely cautious press release today from ITM Power about an exciting subject - fuel cells for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAVs;

ITM has signed an agreement with Boeing Research & Technology Europe S.L. to prepare a Preliminary Design of an Environmentally Friendly Refuelling Station for Fuel Cell Powered Unmanned Air Vehicles.Jim Heathcote, CEO ITM Power, said:

"We are pleased to be working with Boeing and believe this is an interesting agreement for both parties. At the moment, this does not imply a commercial tie-up, does not guarantee any on-going commercial relationship and is a small financial transaction, but it does represent early stage commercial revenues for ITM."

The application for UAVs so far has been almost entirely military or for general security and observation purposes. They are still small and it is highly unlikely that the largest UAVs like the Predator, let alone the Global Hawk will use anything but jet fuel for some time to come. Yet it is the micro UAVs - under 5 kilos in weight - and the class just above it have great potential for fuel cells.

If you're in any doubt about this, next time you see a remote-controlled plane, notice how noisy the little engine is. Hence the case for a fuel cell.

ITM and Boeing will be facing quite a few competitors - not least this record breaking micro fuel cell UAV here which recently completed a record flight of 178 miles and with a fuel cell power density of over 480 watt hours per kilo;



listen to how quiet it is !