The following piece is by Bob Rose, founding executive director of the US Fuel Cell Council and Breakthrough Technologies Institute.

It has taken more than 15 years, but fuel cell combined heat and power (CHP) systems appear to be poised to become an instant success. FuelCell Energy (FCE), which sells molten carbonate (MCFC) units of various sizes, and United Technologies Power (UTC), which sells phosphoric acid fuel cells, are the flagship companies of the fuel cell CHP industry. Both have announced significant sales this year. But the most symbolic was the announcement June 11 that the new building under construction at Ground Zero will include 4.8 MW of fuel cell power, one of the largest installations to date.

The huge hole in the ground in lower Manhattan symbolizes the hole in nation’s psyche punched by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. What better place to demonstrate the potential – the reality – of a home grown, highly efficient energy technology that can provide a basis for a cleaner, more secure energy future?

It’s impossible to say when the first commercial sale of a fuel cell CHP actually took place. The industry is still struggling with what it means by “commercial sale.” But I usually date the commercial CHP era to the sale of United Technologies Corporation PC-25 units which began shipping production line units in 1992.

The units performed admirably in the field, generating tremendous amounts of practical data to help UTC engineers improve their products. Several units have operated more than 60,000 hours (8,000 hours is more or less considered one year of life, although not necessarily a calendar year). The utility industry in the 1990’s said 40,000 hour would be sufficient for a commercial product, but once the UTC units began to surpass that total, the number has inched up to 60,000 or even 80,000 hours.

Now, UTC is offering 400 kW with a 10-year guarantee. Both UTC and FCE claim exceptional reliability and fuel-to-electricity efficiencies above 40%. If all the heat is utilized, the number can exceed 90% — EPA measured a unit at 93%.

FCE is doing a brisk business in California in fuel cells powered by waste gases from water treatment facilities, breweries and the like, under a state program designed to support renewable energy generation. (California regulators in April expanded the fuel cell portion of that program.) Korea has a similar program; FCE sales and orders in Korea have reached nearly 40 MW.

There are many other companies in the fuel cell CHP marketplace. (I hope they will post supplemental comments rather than getting mad at me for not mentioning them.  In fact, just today there was an announcement from Plug Power.) The point is not that FCE and UTC are making progress, but that the industry is finding markets for its products where the benefits of fuel cells are sufficient to overcome their price premium. (Prices are coming down. FCE argues that on a per-kilowatt basis, it already competes with grid power in many places.)

Fuel cells also make dandy grid stabilizers for renewable energy, by the way. But that’s for another article.

So the next time someone tells you that fuel cells are a technology for the far distant future, tell him or her that you can buy one today, and people are.

~Bob Rose

A recent paper on fuel cells for CHP can be found in Resources section.

Robert Rose is the founding executive director of the US Fuel Cell Council, the business association of the fuel cell industry, as well as Breakthrough Technologies Institute (parent organization of Fuel Cells 2000). In a career spanning more than 30 years in Washington, DC, Rose has served in senior communications and policy positions in the U.S. government, provided consulting service and advice to a wide range of public and private sector clients, written or edited several books, and appeared before Committees of Congress. Rose is the author of Fuel Cells and Hydrogen: The Path Forward, which outlines a public-private partnership to develop and commercialize fuel cells and a supporting fuel infrastructure. (Keep an eye out for an updated edition coming soon!) The Path Forward helped shape the fuel cell provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Rose has many other writing and speaking credits and is a regular media source.

The blogosphere generates an estimated five million posts a day. Do we really need another blog? We would argue yes.

• There are a number of excellent blogs about energy and energy policy, but most are vast in focus and scope. The societal payoff of fuel cells and their fuels justifies a specialized forum.
• There is no shortage of opinion about fuel cells, hydrogen and hydrogen rich fuels. But there is far too little actual dialogue and a lot of misconceptions and misinformation are being perpetuated by critics. The current “debate” is less an exchange than a series of pronouncements. A fuel cell forum will help people of goodwill engage the debate, identify common ground and sharpen the focus on issues truly in dispute.
• There is no time like the present. In the US, serious debate has begun on a response to global warming. The rest of the world has begun to focus on a post-Kyoto regime. Smog still kills millions of people every year, according to the UN. And energy prices are shoving many economies toward stagflation if not worse. Developing a response to those challenges will require the best efforts of our leaders, and of each one of us.

In the 1970’s, when we last suffered an oil price shock, most people had never heard of global warming. And very few imagined the exceptional nature of the internet. Whether we can unite on a common agenda, or merely help each other understand the nature of our disagreements, it’s time for a forum on fuel cells and their fuels.

Here’s your chance to “strike the last word,” let everyone know what policy would look like if you were king or queen, and help us all toward a better future.

Welcome to the Fuel Cell Insider, a new weblog devoted to fuel cells and their fuels. Like most blogs it is a place for information and for self expression. Rather than simply reprinting press releases, we will be posting our own opinions and analyses and recruiting posts from experts in the field. The purpose is not only to inform, but to engage, and ultimately to contribute to the global debate on energy policy for this century and the next. We will succeed only with your help, so please speak your mind in our comments sections.