PAFC DEMONSTRATION

Introduction
Phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFC) were installed at 30 U.S. Department of Defense bases between 1994 and 1997. The objectives of the PAFC Demonstration were to:

  • Demonstrate fuel cell capabilities in real world situations,
  • Stimulate growth and economies of scale in the fuel cell industry,
  • Determine the role of fuel cells in DoD's long term energy strategy

Background
In fiscal year 1993, (FY93), the U.S. Congress appropriated $18 million to advance the use of PAFCs at DoD installations. An additional $18.75 million was appropriated in FY94 to expand the program. The U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (USACERL) was assigned the mission of managing the fuel cell demonstration projects for the DoD. USACERL's specific tasks included developing turnkey PAFC packages, devising site criteria, screening DoD candidate installation sites against selection criteria, evaluating viable applications at each candidate site, coordinating fuel cell site designs, installation and acceptance of the PAFC power plants, and performance monitoring and reporting.

Fuel Cell Sites
PAFC Demonstration sites represent a broad spectrum of facilities and locations throughout the major Services. These include eight categories of buildings and span 17 states, from Alaska to Florida (see Map). The Site Summary List identifies all 30 installation sites and the current status of their fuel cell installation.

Seven of the fuel cells are configured to provide back-up electrical power should the utility grid experience a power outage. Thermal output from the fuel cell is used for heating boiler make-up water, domestic hot water, space heating, condensate return, process hot water, etc as shown in the Site Application Matrix.

Performance Data
As part of the PAFC Demonstration, fuel cell performance was monitored with operating data available under Site Performance.

    Fuel Cell Fleet Performance through January 31, 2003
      847,199   Hours of Operation
      142,730   MWHrs Produced
      10,548   MMBtu of Thermal Delivered
      66.2%   Power Plant Fleet Availability