Rural Alaska Power Project

Schatz team shows off the completed fuel cell power system

The Rural Alaska Power Project was a collaborative effort of the Schatz Energy Research Center, the U.S. Department of Energy, the University of Alaska at Fairbanks (UAF), and Teledyne-Brown Engineering’s Energy Systems division. This self-contained fuel cell system was designed to provide all the electric power necessary for a remote, off-grid household in rural Alaska.

Fuel cell system with exterior panels in place, ready for service

The system consists of two forty-cell, 300-cm₂ stacks with a total output capacity of 4 kW (3 kW net AC power out), plus auxiliary subsystems, including an inverter, air blowers, a cooling system, and a control and monitoring system featuring automated safety shutdowns, all mounted inside a welded steel pallet on casters. Hydrogen gas is supplied externally from compressed gas storage cylinders.

The system was designed and built by SERC in early 2000 and was subsequently tested and qualified by a team of engineers from UAF. Due to lack of funds in the later phase of the program, the system was never installed for testing in its intended setting in Alaska. However, it performed extremely well and served to demonstrate the feasibility of using fuel cells as a home power supply.