Fuel Cell Technologies Corp. (FCT, Kingston, ON) reported that its operating subsidiary, Fuel Cell Technologies Ltd., will deliver four 5 kW solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) to the Hydrogen Village at the University of Toronto at Mississauga (UTM) campus in July 2005. This will represent the first-ever installation of fuel cells in Canadian university residences and represents a giant step toward commercialization of FCT's SOFC technology.
The SOFCs will provide electricity and heat for domestic hot water and area heating for townhouse-style student residences at the UTM through a "mini-grid" network. The total value of the project, including industry contributions is $1.87 million. The Hydrogen Village has been created to showcase hydrogen and fuel cell technologies at key focal points such as the UTM campus. The "mini-grid" group of residences are interconnected and serviced by multiple distributed generation units. The facilities may also be connected to the local utility grid that provides electricity to the surrounding area.
The FCT units, which can use several fuels such as natural gas, propane, biogas and methanol, will initially operate on natural gas. The conversion of one or more of the units to hydrogen operation for the last six months of the program will follow. This will demonstrate the ability of FCT's SOFCs to use hydrogen as the fuel source.
