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FuelCell Energy Inc. of Connecticut and Canadian gas distributor Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc. have opened what Enbridge describes as “the world’s first Direct Fuel Cell - Energy Recovery Generation (DFC-ERG) power plant.” Translation: It is the first power plant that pairs a fuel cell with an emission-free process that converts waste energy into electricity.
The $10 million plant opened in Toronto last week and will generate enough power for about 1,700 homes. From the Enbridge press release:
How the DFC-ERGTM works
Natural gas travels long distances in pipelines at high pressure. Before it can be safely distributed to homes and businesses, the pressure must be reduced. Hundreds of these pressure reducing stations exist across Ontario. Normally this is done by squeezing the gas through a valve. Since this process causes the gas to cool, it is usually preheated using gas-fired boilers to maintain reliable deliveries of gas to consumers. Instead of using a valve which wastes the pressure energy, the DFC-ERG power plant directs the high-pressure gas through a turbo expander, which harvests the waste energy for power generation much like a wind or water turbine. The integration of the fuel cell more than doubles the amount of low-impact electricity that is delivered to the electricity grid, and the non-combustion heat from the fuel cell eliminates the need for the boiler and its emissions.
FuelCell CEO R. Daniel Brdar said the two companies will promote the technology to other gas utilities. The Connecticut Clean Energy fund has already selected approximately 18 MW of DFC-ERG power plants for the state’s renewable energy requests for proposals, Brdar said.
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