San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
announces plans for first fuel cell project

All fuel cells contain two electrodes - one positively and one negatively charged - with a substance that conducts electricity (electrolyte) sandwiched between them.
Illustration courtesy U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Bay City News Service

January 11, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission announced Wednesday it has approved a new agreement to design, permit and build San Francisco's first fuel cell project by the end of this year.

The project, which would be built at the SFPUC's Southeast Wastewater Treatment Plant, would use a 600-kilowatt fuel cell to convert gases that are naturally emitted from the wastewater treatment process into electricity to be used to help run the plant.

According to SFPUC spokesman Tony Winnicker, the process will also reduce the plant's need to flare or burn waste gas, which in turn is expected to significantly reduce the plant's emissions in local neighborhoods.

"The fuel cell project is another step toward achieving our clean energy vision for San Francisco,'' SFPUC General Manager Susan Leal said in a statement. "Generating renewable power from waste gas is a win for our ratepayers, a win for the environment and a win for the neighborhood's public health.''

Work on the fuel cell project is scheduled to begin in February, according to Winnicker. The project will receive funding in the form of special funds from San Francisco's renewable energy project and from SFPUC Power Enterprise operating funds.

The agreement authorizes Otto H. Rosentreter Company and Alliance Power to partner in designing, permitting and building a $2.2 million molten carbonate fuel cell energy generation plant, with a five-year operation agreement, Winnicker reported.

According to Winnicker, an additional $2.7 million rebate from the California Public Utilities Commision-mandated Self-Generation Investment Fund will cover the costs of purchasing the fuel cell unit and hardware.

More information on this project can be obtained at www.sfwater.org.

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