Heating and Cooling Energy - Hydrogen and Fuel Cells: Advances in Transportation and Power - page 220

into homes in the U.K. CFCL also formed a collaboration with Nuon NV
and De Dietrich-Remeha Group to jointly develop a fully integrated mi-
cro-combined heat and power (m-CHP) unit for the residential market in
The Netherlands and Belgium.
A typical fuel cell system that is commercially available in the United
States is the 200 kilowatt (kW) PAFC unit produced by UTC Fuel Cells.
This is the type of unit used to provide electricity and heat to the U.S.
Postal Service's Anchorage Mail Handling Facility. In 2000, the Chugach
Electric Association installed a 1 Megawatt (MW) fuel cell system at the
Anchorage Mail Handling Facility. The system consists of five natural gas
powered 200-kW PC25 fuel cells developed by UTC Fuel Cells. The fuel
cell station provides primary power for the facility as well as half of the
hot water needed for heating. Excess electricity from the system flows
back to the grid for use by other customers.
The Town of South Windsor, Connecticut, used funding from the
Connecticut Clean Energy Fund to install a natural gas powered 200-kW
PC25 fuel cell system, from UTC Fuel Cells, at the South Windsor High
School. The system provides heat and electricity to the high school along
with learning opportunities for the students.
The Department of Defense (DOD) Fuel Cell Demonstration Pro-
gram is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It was begun in
the mid-1990s to advance the use of PAFCs at DOD installations. Under
this program, stationary fuel cells were installed at 30 facilities and loca-
tions in the Armed Services. The fuel cells are used for primary and back-
up power as well as heat.
The competition is entrenched in very mature, reliable, low-cost
technologies compared to fuel cells and many barriers exist to impede the
use of widespread use of small-scale CHP systems. These existing tech-
nologies and existing companies can be formidable for the spread of new
technologies and new companies.
CHP TECHNOLOGY
On-site combined heat and power (CHP) which has existed for years,
includes turbines, reciprocating engines and steam turbines. Gas turbines
in the 500-kW to 250-MW produce electricity and heat using a thermody-
namic cycle known as the Brayton cycle. They produce about 40,000-MW
of the total CHP in the United States. The electric efficiency for units of less