"It is exciting to see our Canadian hydrogen and fuel cell community come together to demonstrate what is possible with this new, clean power technology."

- Pierre Rivard, Hydrogen Village spokesperson and Chairman of Fuel Cells Canada.

Kingston, Ontario - August 5, 2004 [SolarAccess.com]

Fuel Cell Technologies (FCT) of Ontario is the most recent company to join with the Hydrogen Village Partnership project to provide a mini-grid power network at the Mississauga campus of the University of Toronto (UTM). A "mini-grid" is a group of residences, commercial or industrial buildings that are interconnected and serviced by multiple Distributed Generation (DG) units. These facilities may also be connected to the local utility grid.

FCT will supply four 5 kW solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) for the CAD$ 1.87 million (US$ 1.4 million) project to generate electricity, heat for domestic hot water, and building heat for townhouse style student residences on the UTM campus. Fuel cell installations at the campus are one project in a series of hydrogen showcases planned for the greater Toronto area in Canada.

"It is exciting to see our Canadian hydrogen and fuel cell community come together to demonstrate what is possible with this new, clean power technology," said Pierre Rivard, Hydrogen Village spokesperson and Chairman of Fuel Cells Canada.

The Hydrogen Village was created by Fuel Cells Canada to promote a collaborative effort between industry, government and academia that should accelerate the commercialization of the hydrogen industry and fuel cell technology in the nation.

Fuel cell units supplied by FCT will initially operate on natural gas, and most of the units should be converted to hydrogen operation for the last six months of the program to help demonstrate the ability to change from a fossil fuel to hydrogen. Additional UTM project sponsors include Ontario Power Generation (OPG), Technology Partnerships Canada (TPC) h2 Early Adopters (h2EA) program and the University of Toronto at Mississauga (UTM).

Demonstrations planned over the course of the entire long-term village project will highlight numerous technologies that support the integration and production of hydrogen to generate clean energy. Potential outcomes of the village project include hydrogen and fuel cell technology advancements and cost reductions, early market development, broad stakeholder education, hands-on development of transferable codes and standards, and increased investment in the sector.

Members of the partnership include a variety of end-users, technology providers and technology integrators. The end-user group includes potential early adopters of hydrogen and fuel cell technology, including municipal government groups, learning institutions, utilities and corporations. Technology providers are companies that develop fuel cells, fuel cell systems, hydrogen generation and conversion technologies, components, storage and fueling technologies. Technology integrators will work as a bridge between the providers and the end-users by integrating the technology into fully functional hydrogen and fuel cell applications.

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