Army Demos FC-Heat Pump
April 18, 2003
In a new twist for a remote, sparsely populated rural area where electric cooperatives and bottled propane gas usually comprise the energy infrastructure, a fuel cell was joined with this combination last fall at a U.S. Army installation in California's Sierra Nevada foothills. The installation provides a critical demonstration of pollution-free, on-site power production. Public and private sector sponsors hope it proves to be a harbinger for a future technological and commercial success.
The electric cooperative sees the fuel cell as a means of bringing combined heat and power to association members now unable to be served, avoiding the need to build what many consider "ugly power lines" through relatively pristine areas.
As one of eight fuel cell sites that involve military installations and are managed by the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers, the 4.5-kW fuel cell is the only one in the program used to power a separate and unique underground heat-pump heating and cooling system. Various U.S. government sources that have studied the "GeoExchange" heating/cooling system characterized it as the "most environmentally friendly, energy-efficient space conditioning technology now commercially available."
With this system, the Army Depot in Lassen County, Calif., is using the energy to move and transfer heat rather than produce it. By acting as a "lever," GeoExchange extracts far more heat out of the pipes in the ground than the amount of energy it uses. This process gives the GeoExchange an efficiency coefficient of 3.8, according to officials with Delta-Montrose Electric Association, the Colorado-based electric co-op that worked with the Army Corps of Engineers to plan and install the fuel cell.
The annualized dollar savings are not huge, and the fuel cell has been hindered by downtime due to mechanical and software problems unrelated to the chemical reaction-induced power production itself, according to the electric cooperative's technical project manager, Ron Fleshood. He verified that when the fuel cell has operated, it has performed as expected, delivering the desired amounts of power and waste heat.
But operations have been further complicated by the ongoing merger of the manufacturer, New Jersey-based H Power, with one of its major competitors, Latham, N.Y.-based Plug Power. H Power's experience developing a propane reformer as the source of fuel cell hydrogen was an attraction for both Plug Power, which has no such reformer, and the propane-dependent Sierra Army Depot project.
"In theory, there are several fuel cell manufacturers who have propane reforming technology, but H Power was the only one with Beta units out in the field, however," said Fleshood. "If you follow the market, you know manufacturing will tout models and say they are about to come out with one, but then in the next couple of months it never gets built." He characterizes today's fuel cell industry as "somewhat guarded in releasing information" because the whole sector has seen a number of promises that were never fulfilled.
The combination system is intended by the utility, industry and governmental partners to "illustrate that homes of the future and other buildings can have all their electric, heating, cooling and hot-water needs met with virtually zero pollution," according to Steve Metheny, chief operating manager of Delta-Montrose.
H Power's propane-powered fuel cell was installed adjacent to a swimming pool, for which it supplies heat. Its electrical output is carried across the street to a heat pump in a nearby 1,200-square-foot barrack that receives all of its heat and cooling needs from the system. Propane provides the source of hydrogen used in the chemical reaction producing electricity and heat in the fuel cell, and the fuel is the principal cost applied against the gross savings obtained since the installation was completed in October 2002.
So far, the estimated annual gross savings in electricity, thermal energy, heating and cooling is about $6,840, offset with an average propane bill of $4,374. This leaves a net monthly savings to the Army Depot of $2,466, according to results calculated by the Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratory.
Although the Sierra installation is served by another electric co-op utility locally, Delta-Montrose is involved because in the midst of the 2001 Western wholesale power crisis, it viewed the response to the crisis as a good opportunity for advancing fuel cells. The cooperative utility sees the advancement of fuel cells as a growth business for reaching installations that will never have power lines or natural gas pipelines running to them.
"Based on the research we had done on a fuel cell operated here in our offices, it looked like it was conceivable that fuel cell power could be competitive in several places in California," said Tom Polikalas, a manager with the Delta-Montrose co-op. "We looked at this as an opportunity to get a toehold in the California energy market."
A Delta-Montrose proposal currently being assessed would place a fuel cell at part of the Air Force Academy complex in Colorado Springs, Colo.
- - Richard Nemec
You received this energy technology update a colleague who uses Energy Prospects.
Not a subscriber yet? Sign up for a free two month trial
Not a subscriber yet? Sign up for free two month trial
©2003 Energy NewsData | Terms of use | Contact us