|
United States Postal Service
Q & A
Postal Service to install world's largest assured-power fuel cell system
Q: Where will this fuel cell system be located?
A: The fuel cell system is being installed at the Anchorage Mail Processing and Distribution Facility, located adjacent to the Anchorage International Airport.
Q: When will it be open for business?
A: The system is expected to be operational by early next year. When completed, it will be the largest commercial fuel cell system in the world
Q: How does this new fuel cell system work?
A: Five fuel cells are connected in parallel to produce electricity. Fuel cells are similar to batteries in that both produce a DC current by using an electrochemical process. Two electrodes, an anode and a cathode, are separated by an electrolyte. Like batteries, fuel cells are combined into groups, called stacks, to obtain a usable voltage and power output. A typical fuel cell power system produces electricity in a three stage process. First a fuel processor warms the natural-gas fuel and boosts the amount of hydrogen it contains. The enriched fuel and air then feed a fuel cell power section that produces DC electricity and heat. Finally, a power conditioner converts the DC electricity to high-quality AC power, free from voltage spikes and harmonic distortions. Each fuel cell generates 200 kilowatts of electricity, enough to supply electricity for nearly 150 homes and more than 700,000 BTUs per hour of usable heat.
Q: What does assured-power mean?
A: Postal Service facilities are becoming increasingly sensitive to power quality and reliability. The new technology developed for this project assures than an automatic shutdown will not occur when the grid goes down. If there is a grid outage, the installation will automatically operate as an independent system, continuing to power the facility. The transition will appear seamless, with the equipment providing assured power and eliminating the need for conventional stand-by generators.
Q: Why is that important?
A: Facilities such as the one in Anchorage operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and power outages cause an interruption in mail processing, adding cost and time to service.
Q: What companies besides the Postal Service are involved in the installation of this system?
A: The system will be installed, owned, and maintained by Chugach Electric Association, Inc., the largest utility company in Alaska. The fuel cell power plants that make up the system are manufactured by ONSI Corporation, South Windsor, CT.
Q: Who is funding this project?
A: The assured-power fuel cell system is being funded, in part, by the Postal Service, the U. S. Department of Energy, Cooperative Research Network of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, and the Electric Power Research Institute. The control system for the project will be developed and delivered by the U. S. Army's Construction Engineering and Research Laboratories
Q: Besides assured power, what is the advantage of using fuel cells?
A: The fuel cells require little maintenance and eliminate the need for back-up generators and associated underground fuel storage tanks. That equipment would have cost $500,000 if these fuel cells had not been available. One of the major advantages of fuel cells is they help protect the environment.
Q: How does this system help protect the environment?
A: Because the fuel cell does not burn gas, it operates virtually pollution free, eliminating air emissions normally associated with acid rain, smog, and global warming. Compared with electricity generated from the average combustion-based processes in the United States, a fuel cell saves more than 40,000 pounds of air pollution and 1,100 tones of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere during each year of operation. This is important because reducing pollution and protecting the environment are major goals of the U. S. Postal Service.
Q: What else does the Postal Service do to help protect the environment?
A; The Postal Service is an award-winning environmental leader. We have the nation's largest compressed natural gas (CNG) delivery fleet, with more than 7,500 of its Long-Life Vehicles converted to CNG. Electric vehicles are also being tested nationwide, and we will begin to take delivery of 10,000 flexible fuel ethanol vehicles from Ford Motor Co. this year. The total USPS Alternative-Fuel Vehicle fleet is expected to grow to nearly 30,000 vehicles by 2002. USPS recycles more than one million tons of wastepaper, cardboard, plastics, and other materials each year, and we have reduced its energy usage by 18 percent since 1991 and will reach a 30% reduction by 2005.
Q. How does this project fit into the National Energy program of the USPS?
A: Consistent with the Energy Policy Act of 1992 and recent Executive Order 13123, the Postal Service is striving to expand its use of renewable energy within its facilities. While we have experiences with solar projects, this is the first opportunity we have to obtain first hand experience with fuel cells. Being progressive in energy and environmental technologies helps us determine applications for the future.
