FuelCell turns onions into energy
A Danbury firm enabled Oxnard, Calif.-based Gills Onions to create electricity using old onions and a process that mimics how the human body expels gas.
FuelCell Energy of Danbury recently celebrated the installation of two 300-kilowatt Direct FuelCell power plants at Gills Onions. There in California, Gills extracts juice out of the 300,000 pounds of onion waste it produces per day, lets it ferment in an anaerobic digester system, and uses the biogas formed from the process to power the new fuel cells.
The installation, with a price tag of nearly $9.6 million, has an expected payback for Gills of six years and will provide 35 percent to 45 percent of the farm’s electricity needs.
As U.S. officials push for new green technology and tighter pollution standards, a key question for business owners is when does it pay to invest in technology such as fuel cells and what can that mean for investors.Paul Schatz, president of Woodbridge investment adviser Heritage Capital, said there are several different investment groups in this equation. The first would be investors in a publicly traded company buying the technology, but he said he didn’t believe the investment presents any risk. The board of directors isn’t going to plunge a into ruin by buying clean technology, he said, instead it will make business and environmental sense.
Another type of investor is looking to make money off of the green movement. Right now, those investors are struggling, he said.”Sadly, the easiest way to play alternative energy is to buy oil,” Schatz said, explaining the alternative energy stocks go up when oil prices rise but also fall when oil prices drop. It’s simply that when fossil fuels cost more, then people turn to alternatives.
Light sweet crude oil dropped 21 cents to settle at $65.42 a barrel Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Finally, there are the owners of factories and other facilities looking to invest in alternative energy for a possible competitive advantage.
“It can be a pretty big gamble,” he said, but that depends on the incentives and payback point for the business. The owner has to know when he’s going to break even, Schatz said.
Richard Shaw, director of business development at Danbury-base FuelCell Energy, said what’s unique about Gills is also an exciting application of existing technology.
Most fuel cells rely on natural gas to create energy. The gas is pumped into the fuel cell and hydrogen is extracted and converted into energy, but other fuels can be used, including methane.
Shaw said the anaerobic digester processor is an existing technology used most often with wastewater-treatment facilities. The fuel cells plug into the digesters and create energy.”Gills Onions is different in that it’s a food-and-beverage industry instead of a wastewater-treatment industry,” he said. FuelCell Energy has installed similar types of systems at Japan’s Kirin Brewery and Sierra Nevada’s Brewery in California.
Shaw said FuelCell’s sales are good on the coasts because electricity prices are high and environmental standards are stricter, which provides further incentives to use a zero-emissions system such as fuel cells. There are also federal and state tax breaks.
In the case of Gills, the business received a $2.7 million California state grant to cover part of the cost.
FuelCell’s in-state rival in the industry, UTC Power, also has had some recent success in new installations, despite the economy.
“There’s definitely still interest, but certainly the economy has affected everyone,” said Peg Hashem, a UTC Power spokeswoman.
UTC Power announced July 1 that it would install two fuel cell systems on-site at the Coca Cola Enterprises facility in Elmsford, N.Y. Coca Cola Enterprises is the world’s largest Coca Cola bottler. Together, the fuel cells will generate enough energy and heat for 30 percent of the facility’s operational needs. They also will serve as a backup source of power in case of a utility outage. UTC Power will own, operate and maintain the fuel cells as part of a 10-year energy services agreement.
The project received a $2 million grant.
“The reality is that fuel cell companies are selling most of their products in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York — states that offer incentives and where the spark spread is high,” Hashem said. Along with seeing a cost benefit to the technology, she said businesses are investing in it because they believe in sustainability.
Andy Brydges, a Connecticut-based principal consultant for energy consultant Kema Inc., said there are different technologies for different businesses and organizations. His firm helps companies find the alternative energy solution that fits them — especially in how long it will take before they break even.
“A university might have a different tolerance than a private business,” he said. “Two to three years might be too long for some private businesses.”
As for how today’s lower energy prices are affecting the industry, Brydges said it’s merely a short-term blip for the industry.
“I am not concerned in the long run,” he said, adding that he believes oil and gas prices will continue to trend higher and make alternative energy more attractive.
