Fuel cells are commercially viable and can compete on an economic basis with standard uninterruptible power generation systems. This paper analyzes an 800 kW phosphoric acid fuel cell installation that provides electrical power to a critical need credit card processing facility in Omaha, Nebraska. The installation provides electricity at over double the energy efficiency of current uninterruptible power generation systems. The fuel cell system achieves these efficiencies while producing 40percent to 50percent less greenhouse gases and at a calculated availability of 100 to 1000 times greater than traditional data center power systems. Life cycle analysis of the fuel cell system versus standard data center power conditioning systems proves the economic viability of the fuel cell system.
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