Green Energy News | August 22, 1999

August 22, 1999 – Vol.4 No.21

ENERGIES... week of August 22, 1999

CONGRATULATIONS!. Advanced Vehicle Systems (AVS) has received the largest order ever placed for hybrid-electric buses. The City of Tempe, Arizona has ordered 31 - with an option for 169 more - gas turbine-electric, extra-wide buses to be used in the city’s pedestrian-oriented downtown. The first group of buses will be delivered before February, 2001.

The hybrid buses use a Capstone MicroTurbine (tm) generator to keep the battery pack charged, but the buses can also be recharged from the power grid - especially at night to take advantage of lower rates. The turbine will be fueled by natural gas. The buses have a range of 150 miles.

The electrical power and propulsion systems, for at least some of the buses will be supplied by PEI Electronics, utilizing 75 kW (100 hp) motor/controllers from Unique Mobility. Each bus will have two motors driving the rear wheels. AVS has successfully tested a similar hybrid bus in 2 1/2 years of regular service in the company’s hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The buses ordered by Tempe are 10 inches wider than typical to better accommodate wheelchairs. Visit Capstone at http://www.capstoneturbine.com/ , and Unique Mobility at http://www.uqm.com/ .

FLARE-OFF-TO-WORK. Capstone Turbine has also announced that it has successfully tested sour gas to fuel its MicroTurbine. Sour gas, untreated solution gas with a high concentration of hydrogen sulfide (H2S), burns in the turbine at a seven percent ratio.

Capstone is attempting to create a small scale solution to reduce flare gases from oil and gas producers, landfill operators, environmental and emissions companies. Instead of burning off sour gas, companies could fuel the turbine generator and put the resulting electricity to work in company operations or sell it back to the grid.

COMPREHENSIVE FUEL CELL STUDY. According to a study by Allied Business Intelligence (ABI), the installed base of stationary fuel cells could grow to $20 billion worldwide by 2010. The $40 million spent in 1999 alone for fuel cell research and development, including a few sales, could turn into a $10 billion dollar a year business in a decade.

The study considers fuel cells ranging from 50 W to 30 MW for distributed power generation. Technologies included are phosphoric acid, proton exchange membrane (PEM), molten carbonate, solid oxide and zinc-air fuel cells. Other competing distributed generation technologies such as microturbines, wind turbines and photovolatic solar systems are compared with fuel cells in the report. Also included is a comparison of hydrolysis systems verses zinc-air systems for power-only applications. (Systems that operate at high temperatures can also make hot water in addition to electricity.) Visit ABI at http://www.alliedworld.com/ . (The study must be purchased.)

JAPAN’S EXPERIMENT. The Environment Agency of Japan will install fuel cells in selected parts of the country as an experiment to find methods to cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce dependence on imported oil.

Fuel cells powered by hydrogen extracted from methane gas (a greenhouse gas) will be tested in urban areas along with solar power to charge electric cars or power public areas. On farms, fuel cells will be used with wind generators to pump water or to heat greenhouses.