UTC Power will install its System Model 400 fuel cell at the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) in Diamond Bar, Calif., to power the headquarters office.AQMD, the air pollution control agency for all of Orange County and the urban portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, is a repeat customer for UTC Power. In 1994, the AQMD installed a PureCell System Model 200, which ran for more than 50,000 hours.
This fuel cell system will provide about 22 percent of AQMD’s daily electrical needs and is part of its energy self-sufficiency effort. The installation will provide 400 kW of power. Additionally, thermal energy from the fuel cell will be harnessed to provide space heating and reheating for the air conditioning system.
The PureCell system is a long-term solution with a 10-year stack life and total expected energy efficiencies more than double those of traditional power sources.
UTC Power will provide energy from the fuel cell to AQMD under an Energy Supply and Services Agreement. The project is supported by funding from California’s Self-Generation Incentive program, and the unit is expected to be installed and operational in mid-2013.