FuelCell Energy, Inc. (NasdaqNM:FCEL) today announced the sale of a 250-kilowatt Direct FuelCell (DFC) power plant to generate onsite electricity and provide residual heat for domestic hot water and heating at the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) in Syracuse. The transaction, arranged by Milton Cat Inc., the Caterpillar Inc. dealer representing the Syracuse area, includes site engineering and installation of the DFC300A power plant and related equipment. Caterpillar and FuelCell Energy have an alliance agreement to distribute and develop ultra-low emission fuel cell power generation products for industrial and commercial use. FuelCell Energy will provide maintenance under a long-term service agreement with SUNY-ESF. The fuel cell to be installed at SUNY-ESF is expected to provide about 5 percent of the campus’s power.
New York Gov. George E. Pataki previously announced this project would receive $1 million in funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The New York Power Authority (NYPA) also is participating as the purchaser of the fuel cell system and administrator on behalf of SUNY-ESF. The “ultra-clean” DFC power plant will play a key role in the campus’s continuing efforts to meet and exceed the renewable power standards set forth in the Governor’s Executive Order 111.
The program also received financial support from the U.S. Department of Defense Climate Change Fuel Cell Program and the Electric Power Research Institute.
Gov. Pataki issued Executive Order 111 in June 2001, directing State facilities to reduce energy use by 35 percent by 2010. It further directs facilities to purchase 10 percent of their power from renewable resources by 2005 and 20 percent by 2010. Under the order, fuel cells (including those operating on natural gas) qualify for the renewable energy requirement because they generate minimal emissions as a result of their electro-chemical process for generating electricity.
Since 2002, SUNY-ESF has been designated the SUNY Center for Sustainable and Renewable Energy, a clearinghouse for renewable energy issues and research for the entire 64-campus SUNY-system.
This is the fourth DFC power plant for a university in the United States. Other DFC university sites include Yale University in Connecticut, Ocean County College in New Jersey, and Grand Valley State University in Michigan. The combined heat and power potential for colleges and universities in four northeastern states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York) exceeds 500 megawatts.
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States educating nearly 413,000 students in 6,688 degree and certificate programs on 64 campuses.
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