Breakthrough Technologies Institute - Fuel Cells 2000

Harkins House juvenile shelter, Hillsboro: A natural gas-powered Plug Power PEM
fuel cell was installed in 2003 to generate electric power and heat for hot water. The
installation was a project of the Combined Heat and Power consortium.
Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant, Portland: Under Portland’s
Energy Challenge program, the City's Bureau of Environmental Services operated a
UTC Power 200-kW methane-powered fuel cell at the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater
Treatment Plant. The fuel cell provided power between 1999 and 2005 and saved the
city about $58,000/year. Funding for this project included a $200,000 grant from DoD
and a $224,000 tax credit from the Oregon Office of Energy.
LIFT facility at Powell Garage, Portland: A ReliOn 1-kW PEM fuel cell provides back
up power to keep sensitive equipment running during power outages, replacing an
oversized diesel generator that burns up to 10 gallons of fuel per hour. The project was
sponsored by the Bonneville Power Administration and Tri-County Metropolitan
Transportation District (TRIMET).
2. STANDARDS/REGULATIONS
POWER GENERATION
PENNSYLVANIA
Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard
www.puc.state.pa.us/electric/electric_alt_energy_port_stnds.aspx
The Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act was signed into law in 2004 and took
effect in February 2005. The Act requires that a certain percentage of the electric
energy sold to retail customers in Pennsylvania by electric distribution companies
(EDCs) and electric generation suppliers (EGSs) be derived from alternative energy
resources. This includes Tier 1 resources (solar photovoltaic energy, solar thermal
energy, wind, low-impact hydro, geothermal, biomass, biologically derived methane gas,
coal mine methane and fuel cells) and Tier II resources (waste coal, distributed
generation systems, demand-side management, large-scale hydro, municipal solid
waste, pulping process and wood manufacturing byproducts and integrated combined
coal gasification technology).
EDCs and EGSs must provide retail electric customers electric energy derived from Tier
I resources no later than February 28, 2007. While the Act does not specifically identify a
start date for Tier II compliance, the PUC has decided that Tier II compliance will also
commence on February 28, 2007. The percentage of energy derived from alternative
sources will increase yearly until 2020:
• Tier I resources (except solar photovoltaic), which will start at 1.5% of retail
energy sales by no later than the end of February 2007, will increase by 0.5%
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