Two PEM fuel cells are used in this demonstration
project at the Sergeant Silvestre S. Herrera United States Army Reserve
Center in Mesa, Arizona, Building 602. The manufacturers are Plug
Power and Ida Tech. Both units are rated as approximately 5 kilowatt
units, but both were set to the 2.5 or 2.0 kilowatt setpoints for
the duration of the test. Both fuel cells are using natural gas as
their fuel and are grid-connected. There was, and there is no plan
to attempt during this demonstration to use the thermal energy provided
by these units. The building to which the fuel cells provide AC electrical
energy has most recently been used as the main training site at the
Williams Gateway Airport location in Mesa. A new building has been
constructed and was moved into during the month of September, 2004.
Building 602 will be used for other units that will be moving in,
however, the electrical loads in the building will be less. Even so,
the energy provided by the fuel cells will only be a fraction of that
required. Of interest in this demonstration is the ability of two
fuel cells, made by different manufacturers, to operate well in parallel
during the required demonstration time. Contract award for this demonstration
was $429,907.
On March 25/2005, the first fuel cell system, Plug Power Gensys,
was commissioned. At approximately 7:00 PM on April 14, 2005, the
second fuel cell system, the IdaTech nGen5, became operational at
the Sylvestre Herrera US Army Reserve Center.
The two systems use steam reformation to extract hydrogen from natural
gas for use in a fuel cell stack. The Plug Power unit is operating
at 2.5kW AC electrical power output to the grid, and the IdaTech
unit is operating at 2kW power output. The systems are located on
the South side of the building, in an enclosed fenceline, approximately
four feet away from one another. The systems will be run for approximately
one year.
