Demand for fuel cells exists but mass commercialization still elusive, according to industry analyst

• With every hour of downtime costing the bank $6.5 million, the facility needed an on-site power system that would not only weather brownouts and power surges, but also produce the maximum amount of uptime.
• To protect its computers and keep the data center up and running, the bank purchased four 200kW fuel cell units, which promise only 0.31 to 3.18 seconds of downtime per year or seven nines of reliability.
• Fuel cells produce electricity from a chemical reaction, operate like a battery, and have efficiencies of up to 85% when combined with heat recovery.
• More than 250 stationary fuel cell systems are generating power for industrial applications such as hospitals, and data processing centers worldwide.
• Although fuel cells aren't new, the market still faces several barriers to widespread commercialization, and it may take a long time for this technology to become an affordable replacement for more traditional forms of emergency power generation, such as diesel generators, flywheel systems, or battery systems.
• Pierre Rivard, president of Canada-based Hydrogenics, says his company has made progress on the cost, performance, and the business development sides over the past two years.
• Waters said during the Department of Defense study the manufacturers involved with these early projects hired electrical contractors to prepare for the installation of the fuel cells.
• While the contractors installed the concrete pad and ran conduits to power the fuel cell unit, the manufacturers were responsible for bringing the fuel cell unit in, setting it in place, and connecting it.
• When he is able to break into the market, he would like to ensure that his electricians provide a quality installation in order to give the fuel cell market a good name.
• But at this time, rather than hiring outside firms, Hydrogenics has hired an inside team of electricians and engineers with varying skill sets.
• "The wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine, and storing electricity as electrons is kind of hard," Rose says.