The DoD ERDC-CERL Residential Scale PEM Fuel Cell Program

摘要

U. S. Congressional appropriations in fiscal years 2001 through 2003 provided funds to the U. S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) for a demonstration of residential scale proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells at U. S. military facilities. For the sake of this program, "residential scale" has been defined as projects ranging in size from 1 to 20 kW, regardless of what the actual application is. The program requires successful applicants to provide fuel cell power to the application for a period of one year with an average availability of 90%. Approximately $6,000,000 was awarded from the FY 2001 and FY 2002 appropriations for a total of 50 fuel cells. Approximately 75% of these are currently in operation, with two sites having completed the one-year operation period. The remainder will be installed over the next few months. An additional approximately $3,500,000 has been provided in the FY 2003 appropriation. A solicitation for this program was issued, pre-proposals were reviewed, and several applicants were selected to submit follow-on full proposals. It is anticipated that awards will be made before the end of the year. All units are being closely monitored to assess their performance, and lessons learned are being fed back to the fuel cell community to assist in optimized product development and enhanced operational and maintenance procedures.