News

EPRI Purchases Power Quality System from Enable Fuel Cells

August 22, 2000 by Jeff Shepard

DCH Technology Inc. (DCHT, Valencia, CA) announced that the Electric Power Research Institute PEAC Corp. (EPRI PEAC, Palo Alto, CA) has purchased a state-of-the-art power quality system from DCHT's wholly owned subsidiary, Enable Fuel Cells Corp. (Middleton, WI). EPRI PEAC purchased the Enable system after a comprehensive analysis of alternative fuel cell systems, and demonstrated the system yesterday to more than 50 global utilities at its laboratories in Knoxville, TN. Enable worked with EPRI PEAC to develop the unit, which features the ability to reliably and quickly adjust to varying load conditions, including a rapid response to grid-drop on the order of 75us. It consumes hydrogen, tap water and air to produce 3kW of electrical power, delivered to either a 200Vdc load, 400Vdc load, or 208Vac line or load. The proton-exchange membrane technology of the system's Enable fuel cell minimizes parasitic-energy consumption. "With the technology from Enable, combined with EPRI PEAC's unique supercapacitors, engineers now have a solution that has high reliability and operates virtually maintenance-free," said Tom Geist, EPRI PEAC power-quality manager. "Enable has moved fuel cell technology out of the laboratory and into the real world."