Fuel Cell Nation

First North American Fuel Cell Ship

(UVic Communications)

In a story titled Greener B.C. research ship to use fuel cells, the 1985-vintage Tsekoa II, once used by the Canadian Coast Guard, is discussed being transferred to the University of Victoria, along with its ongoing retrofit with an all-electric, hybrid drive. The propulsion system consists of:

• Batteries
• Hydrogen-air fuel cells and
• "Low-emission" diesel generators.

As such, the Tsekoa II will apparently become North America’s first hybrid fuel cell and plug-in hybrid ship. No word on the vendors supplying the battery and fuel cell systems, or even the battery type. If it is a Lithium-Ion battery, it will likely be one of the largest transportation-based installations in the world, because Kim Juniper, lead scientist on the project. is quoted as saying "When fully charged, the batteries can supply all the ship's power requirements for up to eight hours."

$22 million (CAN) is going to the power plant changeover. An additional $8.8 million (CAN) is going to to expand the Venus undersea observatory in the Strait of Georgia and Saanich Inlet.

So not only is this project developing a hybrid ship, but it involves hybrid funding sources and sinks: a variety of governmental and private sources are being pooled to fund both fuel cell and oceanography work!

Another Bloom Story

 
There's a new Press Release from Bloom Energy about the  Bloom Electrons^TM program they started. Instead of paying big money up front to buy a Bloom Box [a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), running on natural gas], you can sign up for a 10-year lease and "... pay only for the electricity consumed ...". On the positive side, you now have a known price for much of your electricity supply (without tying down your natural gas price,) which is good. Also, you get the kudos of friends and neighbors for being an early adopter of Green Energy.

What I don't like is their somewhat deceptive advertising that you can pick one up and only "pay only for the electricity consumed." People are going to be saddened when they investigate and see that, just like cogeneration systems (and many other energy-saving technologies), it only pays to base-load a Bloom Box. Peak electric power will still need to be bought from the local electric utility. Of course, this non-base-loaded power is a large fraction of most customer's total annual electricity needs. So Bloom Electrons users will not generally be totaly green customers.

Once again, there is no such thing as a free lunch!