Two companies are testing the viability of what is thought to be the world's largest proton exchange membrane (PEM) hydrogen-powered fuel cell.

FirstEnergy and Ballard Power Systems are assessing the merits of the 54ft-long utility scale system, which is capable of producing 1MW of electricity - enough to power 600 homes.

The initial demonstrations are being carried out at a site in Ohio, with the firms announcing plans to give the system a trial run in 'real' conditions over the next five years.

It is hoped that the tests - which will be evaluated with the help of the Electric Power Research Institute - will underline the technology's potential to offer generating capacity during peak periods between May and September.

"Finding new sources of clean, renewable peaking energy is important for meeting our customers' energy needs and helping us meet increasingly stringent environmental requirements," said Gary R Leidich, Executive Vice President of FirstEnergy Generation.

"This fuel cell system has the added benefit of being mobile, so it can provide peaking power when and where it's needed."

The system incorporates nine fuel cell modules, which combine hydrogen fuel and oxygen from the air to produce electrical energy, with only heat and water as by-products.

In addition, it contains a compressor compartment offering air for the reaction, an inverter compartment which converts DC power to AC power and a transformer to push voltage up to three-phase AC power.

"Deploying our CLEARgen system with FirstEnergy provides an opportunity to demonstrate performance in a utility-scale peak power application," added Michael Goldstein, Ballard's Chief Commercial Officer.

"With the increasing interest in clean energy solutions, we are seeing demand for this scalable product across a number of different distributed power generation applications."

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FirstEnergy and Ballard Begin Demonstration of One-Megawatt Mobile Fuel Cell System (01/11/10) 

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