Final Technical Report: Residential Fuel Cell Demonstration by the Delaware County Electric Cooperative, Inc.

This demonstration project contributes to the knowledge base in the area of fuel cells in stationary applications, propane fuel cells, edge-of-grid applications for fuel cells, and energy storage in combination with fuel cells. The project demonstrated that it is technically feasible to meet the whole-house electrical energy needs of a typical upstate New York residence with a 5-kW fuel cell in combination with in-home energy storage without any major modifications to the residence or modifications to the consumption patterns of the residents of the home. The use of a fuel cell at constant output power through a 120-Volt inverter leads to system performance issues including: • relatively poor power quality as quantified by the IEEE-defined short term flicker parameter • relatively low overall system efficiency Each of these issues is discussed in detail in the text of this report. The fuel cell performed well over the 1-year demonstration period in terms of availability and efficiency of conversion from chemical energy (propane) to electrical energy at the fuel cell output terminals. Another strength of fuel cell performance in the demonstration was the low requirements for maintenance and repair on the fuel cell. The project uncovered a new and important installation consideration for propane fuel cells. Alcohol added to new propane storage tanks is preferentially absorbed on the surface of some fuel cell reformer desulfurization filters. The experience on this project indicates that special attention must be paid to the volume and composition of propane tank additives. Size, composition, and replacement schedules for the de-sulfurization filter bed should be adjusted to account for propane tank additives to avoid sulfur poisoning of fuel cell stacks. Despite good overall technical performance of the fuel cell and the whole energy system, the demonstration showed that such a system is not economically feasible as compared to other commercially available technologies such as propane reciprocating engine generators