Fuel cells bring clean power to rural areas

Publication Date:12-August-2005
9:45 AM US Eastern Timezone 
Source:The Daily Star

 

 
DELHI — A town of Tompkins resident is getting free electricity for a year while his home is used to test an alternative method of delivering power.

An experimental fuel cell/energy storage project by the Delaware County Electric Cooperative was described Thursday during a kickoff celebration. About 200 people attended the event at the cooperative’s corporate office in Delhi.

Randy Tweedie, a Delaware County Electric Cooperative employee, said he volunteered the use of his Abe Boice Road home to test the fuel cell, which is installed outside his house.

Fuel cells powered by propane convert chemical energy to electrical energy without combustion, making them environmentally clean, said Greg Starheim, the cooperative’s chief executive officer.

Tweedie’s home was chosen because it is an average-size house occupied by a family with a normal lifestyle, Starheim said. The house has an electric hot-water heater and baseboard heating, which is typical for the area.

Starheim said rural electric cooperatives nationwide are interested in fuel cells and energy storage as alternatives to running electric lines to homes in remote areas.

Tweedie’s house offered some challenges to the fuel-cell system because it also has an electric oven and a hot tub that call for extra electric power.

"We wanted to see how the system would react to a quick draw of energy," Starheim said. "But the most important reason for choosing this house was because it belongs to an employee. We didn’t want to subject a customer to the project."

Tweedie said the cell, which was installed in May and put into service in June, is not disruptive and has been functioning smoothly.

"It has an automatic switch that switches it back to the electric grid when needed," Tweedie said.

Propane powers the cell by coming into a device that converts it into hydrogen, Starheim said. The hydrogen goes to a fuel stack and then passes through a molecular membrane where protons come off the hydrogen atom, creating voltage.

The hydrogen then combines with oxygen, forming water and giving off heat. The heat is gathered and goes to a heat exchanger, where it can be used during the warm months to heat hot water and during the winter could be channeled into the baseboard heating system to help heat the house.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Saugerties, said, "I’m proud to have played a part in getting this project off the ground." A $300,000 federal investment helped fund the fuel cell, which Hinchey called "one of the most promising alternatives to the environmentally damaging coal-fired power plants that are the source of so much electricity."

Fuel cells cause less pollution and are efficient and more reliable in remote areas than long-distance power transmission wires, Hinchey added.

The residential-size fuel cell was produced by Plug Power Inc. in Latham.

Plug Power CEO Roger Saillant said, "We are on the leading edge of technology and this is what it looks like. There is a giant collaboration going on here which is not an easy thing to do in a competitive world.

"Fuel cell technology is not here yet, but we are getting closer and closer," Saillant said. "You are to be congratulated for putting the forefront of technology in your back yard."

The State University College of Technology at Delhi is working with the cooperative on the project and plans to incorporate fuel cell and energy storage technologies into the engineering curriculum, college President Candace Vancko said.

"Working with the Cooperative on this has been charming, easy and feels like a win/win," she said.