May 16, 2012
Contact
Public Affairs Office
601-634-3188
CHAMPAIGN, Ill.—The Department of Energy (DOE) Fuel Cell Technologies (FCT) Program and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) jointly announce the award of more than 200 kW in fuel cell backup power across nine federal installations. This competitive ERDC-CERL acquisition was awarded to LOGANEnergy (GA). LOGANEnergy will manage the project using fuel cells from four manufacturers; ReliOn (CA), Altergy (CA), Idatech (OR), and Hydrogenics (CA).
The eight Department of Defense installations receiving emergency fuel cell backup power units are: Fort Bragg (NC), Fort Hood (TX), U.S Military Academy at West Point (NY), Aberdeen Proving Ground (MD), Picatinny Arsenal (NJ), Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base (CO), U.S. Marine Corps 29 Palms (CA), and the Ohio National Guard. The National Aeronautical and Space Administration’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field (CA) will be the ninth installation. Twenty-four buildings altogether will receive mission critical backup power.
Protein exchange membrane fuel cell systems can be twice as efficient as combustion generation, thus reducing the use of foreign oil, and are significantly quieter and cleaner with little or no greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike batteries, which have fixed energy capacities, fuel cells can offer extended runs limited only by the fuel supply.
DOE-FCT Market Transformation (MT) funded the majority of this $2.5M cost-shared effort. ERDC-CERL will manage the project and DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory will collect data for the first two years of this five-year demonstration.
Two additional MT fuel cell backup power demonstrations soon to be announced will include Argonne National Laboratory (IL) and the National Park Service's Fort Sumter (SC).