![[News_Image]](ShowImage/News_Image_Width/News_Image_Base/-707058467FirstEnergy.png.aspx "FirstEnergy buys Ballard 1 MW mobile fuel cell system") FirstEnergy buys Ballard 1 MW mobile fuel cell systemCanadian-based Ballard Power Systems will shortly put a 1 MW mobile PEM fuel cell power plant into operation with utility company FirstEnergy in Ohio. The system will be housed in a large trailer, similar to a semi-tractor trailer, allowing it to be moved easily to different locations.FirstEnergy Solutions, the utility’s unregulated subsidiary, is purchasing the mobile power
plant, but has not yet decided where to put it, according to a report in The Plain Dealer in
Cleveland, Ohio.
For this application, ordered last summer,Ballard will adapt its heavy-duty, PEM fuel cellbased
FCvelocity™ products, which have been proven in fuel cell bus fleets around the world
[FCB, July 2009].
‘We will do a 1 MW peak load demonstration project with FirstEnergy,’ Ballard VP
Michael Goldstein told delegates at the recent 10th annual Ohio Fuel Cell Symposium.
FirstEnergy’s demonstration project could use industrial hydrogen or make hydrogen on
the spot from natural gas, says Goldstein.
‘This demonstration project will provide valuable information about utility-scale fuel
cell technologies, and their potential to provide cost-effective solutions for peak demand
and load management,’ says Gary R. Leidich, executive VP of FirstEnergy.
Ohio is gaining a reputation as a supporter of the fledgling fuel cell industry. The state has
attracted or helped grow a number of companies now producing limited numbers of small,
niche-oriented fuel cells.
Mike McKay, manager of the state’s Technology Business Assistance Office, says that Ohio has
allocated more than $75 million in Third Frontier grants since the program was founded in 2003.
Companies and universities have used those grants to leverage another $171 million, creating 430 jobs, mostly in research and development. [Check
out McKay’s feature on the Ohio Third Frontier program
in FCB, April 2010.]
Ballard Power Systems Inc, Burnaby, BC, Canada.
Tel: +1 604 454 0900, www.ballard.com
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