Innovative fuel cell projects forge ahead.
Despite costs that can’t compete
with traditional energy generators, the number of installed stationary fuel
cells continues to grow. State and federal financial incentives have played a
substantial part in the growth, and although the cost of innovation may be high,
the rewards may prove to be higher, as exemplified in these three innovative
projects for a hospital, a university, and the US Army.
Innovation wasn’t a priority for
St. Helena Hospital when they signed up as one of the first customers for UTC
Power’s next-generation fuel cell, the PureCell Model 400 system. Based in South
Windsor, CT, UTC’s new model offers two features that fit the 24/7 power and
heating demands of hospitals—a substantially lower price point than the earlier
200-kW units, and a substantially higher stack life.
Both are critical factors,
according to Stan Tempchin, executive director of facilities services, at the
St. Helena, CA-based hospital. “The cost of the 400-kW unit is less expensive
over the life of the machine, because they have introduced a 10-year stack,”
says Tempchin. “The prior machines had a five-year stack, and the stack accounts
for about 40% of the cost of the unit. So when you analyze it, this really
boosted the fuel cell into the arena of our consideration as financially
viable.”
Still, St. Helena would not have
chosen a fuel cell without $1 million in financial assistance from California’s
Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) and a $500,000 donation from a
supporter of the hospital that wanted to see a green project. (The SGIP provides
financial incentives for the installation of new, clean, and energy-efficient
onsite distributed generation.)
The supporter should be well
satisfied with the PureCell’s shade of green—along with 400 kW of power, waste
heat from the fuel cell process will supply hot water and space heating for
three of the hospital’s buildings.
“It’s very green and we will save
a considerable amount of money every year, although it’s predicated on the price
of natural gas and how we can purchase it in short-term and long-term
contracts,” explains Tempchin. “The hospital doesn’t have cogeneration now and
uses a high volume of natural gas for heating processes that aren’t efficient,
compared to what we’ll have with the fuel cell. It will generate a couple of
million Btus of heat, and our plan is to run the fuel cell at its full
capability. We also want to utilize as much of the heat as possible. Right now
we just use natural gas to make steam heat, but it will be a lot better when we
switch to the fuel cell.”
The new unit is a phosphoric
acid-based fuel cell, with much of the design reflecting the success of earlier
200-kW products. “We are going to be using the electricity produced 24/7 every
week, and that will equal about 60% of our electrical load,” notes Tempchin.
With that kind of dependence, St.
Helena is taking out a little bit of extra insurance in the form of a
bumper-to-bumper warranty.
“We wanted a guarantee on the
percentage of time that the fuel cell would be up-and-running,” says Tempchin.
“It’s basically buying an insurance policy on the operability because of the
magnitude of the investment.”
The hospital could have saved
about $100,000 by foregoing the warranty, but didn’t want the risk of repair
costs and downtime threatening operations.
For heating, this system has
onboard liquid-to-liquid heat exchangers for hot water and supplies about 30% of
the facility’s heating needs. The unit generates both “high-grade 260°F heat,
and low-grade 140°F heat streams” in a 50–50 split. Tempchin says just about all
of the high-grade heat will be used in producing hot water for heating and
process water. But use of the low-grade heat is more of a challenge, because
it’s not hot enough to use in a majority of the facility’s processes. Initially,
the 140°F heat will be reduced to make potable domestic hot water that typically
runs at about 120°F. Also, a mothballed therapy pool program will be
reestablished and use the low-grade heat at the outdoor pool.
All told, the project has a budget
of about $1.9 million, but with SGIP contributions of $1 million, plus the
$500,000 donation and the combined heat and power’s (CHP) higher-efficiency gas
usage ($150–$175,000 in annual savings), Tempchin says the project looks good
financially.
It also looks good for the fuel
cell industry, notes Professor Scott Samuelson, director of the National Fuel
Cell Research Center at the University of California, Irvine.
“This represents a major step
forward in the technology for UTC power and provides some strong competition to
Fuel Cell Energy,” says Samuelson. “It’s quite a bit lower in price per kilowatt
than UTC’s previous 200-kW unit, and it comes out of the box with a 10-year
stack life and an option for a 20-year life service agreement. Moreover, it is
specifically designed for CHP. I think we’ll see some major announcements from
various entities in California that will purchase this product.”
Biogas Plus Energy Storage
The University of California at
San Diego (UCSD) recently announced a different kind of fuel cell project that
still manages to have two things in common with St. Helena—innovation and
funding from the State of California. It involves a 2.8-MW fuel cell plant that
will run on methane transported by truck to the campus from a nearby sewage
plant.
The system takes advantage of a
recent ruling from the California Public Utilities Commission created to lower
peak usage demands. The utility commission’s order encourages non-utility
operators of fuel cells and small wind turbines of 5 MW or less to couple those
systems to energy storage technologies. UCSD’s fuel cell system is
scheduled for installation this year, though a manufacturer hasn’t
been confirmed yet.
The UCSD campus has a microgrid
carrying about a 40-MW load, with a CHP plant and a 30-MW gas turbine plant,
plus a 1-MW photovoltaic solar array. Nonetheless, the university is still
looking for ways to add green renewables. Especially when funding incentives are
available.
“We’re coupling the fuel cell to
an advanced energy storage unit, because, in California, the incentive program
allows funds for energy storage that is coupled to fuel cells,” says John
Dilliott, facilities engineer at UCSD. “We are going to have access to about $7
million, and we’ll be eligible for another $3 million in advanced energy
storage, so we think of this as the enabling technology to incorporate
renewables.
“The fuel cell is sensitive to the
quality of the gas, so they are cleaning the gas up, but not quite to fine
standards.,” he adds. “They’re getting it to 85% methane and 15% carbon dioxide,
and they are confident they can maintain that level of quality. It’s an
interesting concept, because they will transport on a tanker and deliver it to
us. We created a new term, called mobile renewable, for it.”
For an operating schedule, the
fuel cells will contribute power 20 hours per day to the campus grid, with the
remaining four hours used to charge the storage system. The incentives are based
upon the storage system delivering a minimum of four hours of continuous power.
“We’re doing a technology review
and compressed air was an option, but the storage vessels are required to have
wall thickness of about half an inch for a chamber that will hold compressed air
at 1200 PSI,” he says. “So it becomes costly to build a pressure vessel large
enough. My guess is, it will probably be some sort of a battery such as sodium
sulfide, or something of that nature.”
Along with the four-hour
discharge, the storage system must demonstrate reliable service of at least five
years. Advanced batteries or flywheels could be an option, though Dilliott notes
that such capability has been a technology barrier in the past.
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Photo: Idatech
The objective of IdaTech’s program is to generate electricity
using an advanced fuel cell system compatible with military logistics fuels. |
Further innovation is planned for
the area of storing energy in a direct current (DC) form and using it without
converting it to
alternating current (AC). Plans include building an energy
research park around the fuel cell so one part will be storage, and the other
part will be direct DC use in a datacenter for computers using DC.
“That way we would maximize the
efficiency and skip the inverter,” explains Dilliott. “Also, we might convert
some of the biogas to try hydrogen, to supply fuel to campus vehicles.”
According to Byron Washom, the new
director of strategic energy initiatives at UCSD, carbon neutrality is driving
much of the innovation required for success with such projects. He believes that
universities have an advantage in advancing new power technologies such as the
fuel cell power storage project, because they typically have microgrids and can
implement distributed energy solutions with less complications and more benefits
than institutions relying completely on utility power.
Among those benefits is an
increased level of involvement by the student body, notes Maggie Souder, the
university’s sustainability coordinator.
“UCSD has been very innovative,
and such projects as the fuel cell are more than just a test bed for climate
change,” says Souder. “We’re thrilled, because it engages students and the
general population to the things that it takes to make climate change happen.
“The fuel cell is just one really
fabulous example of something we can show and make a difference on a larger
scale, that goes beyond maximizing our recycling and putting photovoltaics on
our buildings,” she adds. “We see this as sort of a next step, and we coined the
phrase sustainability 2.0 and were picking the low-hanging fruit.”
No Hydrogen Access for the
Army
Our final example of innovative
fuel cell projects comes from IdaTech, a Bend, OR-based fuel cell provider,
working in the critical area of alternative fuel sources, such as methanol,
diesel, and jet fuel. The company recently completed a successful trial of a
3-kW Tactical Fuel Cell Generator (TFCG) developed for the US Army and designed
to operate on military fuels such as JP-8, Jet A, and diesel (DF2) distillates.
“The tactical generator was
tested; their hope was to achieve 500 hours of operation, and the system worked
beautifully,” says Eric Simpkins, vice president, business development and
government affairs. “The unique thing about the system is that we are using
flight grade jet fuel JP-8, and we also can use Jet A fuel or a flight line
diesel fuel.”
The objective of IdaTech’s program
is to generate electricity using an advanced fuel cell system compatible with
military logistics fuels.
“The degree of complexity
progresses forward from bottled hydrogen, which is the easiest to use,” explains
Simpkins. “But the military doesn’t supply that to their field operations. Our
system extracts hydrogen from military fuels. Jet and diesel fuels are complex,
with a lot of materials that you normally avoid in a fuel cell, so they have to
be managed before we get the maximum amount of hydrogen out.”
Simpkins adds that the Army’s
current needs are for a power range between 500 W and 5 kW. For batteries, 500 W
is in the upper range of power, and 3 kW to 5 kW is where the military’s diesel
generators operate. This 3-kW to 5-kW range is where the Army has a lot of needs
but limited choices.
The same holds true for the US
mobile telecommunications company, and IdaTech recently announced a 35-unit
order following field trials of its XTi model. The systems will be deployed in
Florida to provide reliable, extended duration backup power during storms or
outages.
Thanks to convenience of liquid
fuels, the XTi provides longer backup times than batteries, enabling the base
stations to remain operational for days rather than hours. Due to failures after
Hurricane Katrina, it’s expected that a US Federal Communication Commission’s
ruling may require telecommunication companies to provide at least eight hours
of backup for such sites.
So
it seems that, ultimately, even when market forces don’t inspire innovation,
events such as natural disasters may provide the necessary motivation. Yet,
progress in the fuel cell industry continues, and these innovations in
integrated CHP design, energy production and storage, and alternative fuel
sources, could lead the way to the day when incentives and grants won’t be
needed to support the market.