by Shane Henson — July 27, 2011—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced that as part of an interagency partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to strengthen American energy security and develop new clean energy technologies, DOD will be installing and operating 18 fuel cell backup power systems at eight military installations across the country. The departments will test how the fuel cells perform in real world operations, identify any technical improvements manufacturers could make to enhance performance, and highlight the benefits of fuel cells for emergency backup power applications.
DOD officials explained that compared with diesel generators, which are often used for backup power, fuel cells use no petroleum, are quieter, and produce fewer pollutants and emissions. Fuel cells also typically require less maintenance than either generators or batteries, and can easily be monitored remotely to reduce maintenance time. However, the primary challenge facing currently available fuel cells is the higher first cost for the units, compared to the conventional technologies they replace. Targeted fuel cell demonstrations, like the backup power systems that will be installed under the DOE-DOD partnership, may increase the scale of deployment and help improve the economics of the technology, which could lead to more widespread adoption and use.
Further, DOD officials say these projects will accelerate the deployment of this clean electricity technology at DOD facilities and provide valuable data that will help identify future research areas for fuel cells. Continued R&D efforts will enable further reductions in the costs of fuel cells, and as costs continue to come down, fuel cells will become increasingly competitive in the commercial marketplace.
The eight military installations that will receive emergency fuel cell backup power units are:
- Fort Bragg, North Carolina
- Fort Hood, Texas
- The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York
- Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland
- Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey
- Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base, Colorado
- U.S. Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center 29 Palms, California
- The Ohio National Guard, Columbus, Ohio
The $6.6 million project is a joint effort by DOD’s U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. DOD will manage the project, and DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will collect performance data for the first two years of this five-year demonstration. The NREL data will be available to fuel cell developers and commercial and government leaders interested in adopting this technology.
