Hawaii
Energy Policy Forum > 2001
Articles
Fuel cell to power cultural complex on Maui
Jan TenBruggencate
Honolulu Advertiser
Tuesday, February 13, 2001
An isolated botanical garden and
Hawaiian cultural complex east of Hana, Maui, will be powered
by a state-of-the-art
hydrogen fuel cell system for less than the cost of hooking
up to commercial electricity. The W. Alton Jones Foundation
has put up $150,000 to install a self-contained system at
Kahanu Garden. The system, to be in place by the end of the
year, may be the first of its kind in the state. The National
Tropical Botanical Garden runs the Kahanu Garden, site of
the ancient Pi'ilanihale heiau and collections of plants
from across the Pacific. The garden plans to put in a visitor
center, but has been concerned about bringing in electricity.
Fuel
cell systems are expensive but dropping in price. In certain
situations, such as isolated locations, they can
be competitive with commercial power, said Michael Veith,
a former Kaua'i County finance director who consults on hydrogen-based
power through his firm, H2 Power Systems.
"
The $150,000 price tag for the system is substantially cheaper
than the estimated $200,000 to $400,000 it would cost to
tap into Maui Electric Co.'s grid, and we'll continue to
save because we won't have to pay any electric bills," Veith
said.
Had the complex chosen to hook up to the utility, it
would have had to bear the cost of running power lines.
Veith's
firm and the garden are calling for proposals for the construction
of a turnkey program. While the specific
components depend on the system proposed by the lead vendor,
its basic outline is simple, Veith said.
There will be a 5-kilowatt bank of solar photovoltaic panels.
While the sun is shining, the power from the panels will
be used to extract hydrogen from water, which later can be
recombined with oxygen in a fuel cell to create electricity.
At
Kahanu, the visitor center would use power directly from
the solar array during the day, with excess power going into
the production of hydrogen. At night, the hydrogen would
be fed to the fuel cell to create electricity. Garden director
Chipper Wichman said the garden is committed to environmental
protection and favors using a fuel cell
system instead of batteries, since the fuel cell does not
contain lead or other products that may be toxic to the environment.
The fuel cell's waste product is water, created when the
hydrogen combines with oxygen. "
This allows us to not just talk the talk but walk the walk," he
said.
State Rep. Mina Morita said a working fuel cell system
at Kahanu Garden will be useful in building support for
such projects. Morita, D-12th (E. Maui, N. Kaua'i), represents
Hana and is chairwoman of the House Committee on Energy
and
Environmental Protection. One of the problems with many
renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, is
that they are not always
available,
since the air is sometimes still and sunlight fades. Fuel
cells allow the storage of energy regardless if its source
is available, she said.
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