WEST BABYLON, N.Y. — As part of its effort to diversify its energy supply and advance the implementation of distributed generation on Long Island, the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) announced, at a McDonald’s restaurant partially powered by a Plug Power Inc. (Latham, N.Y.) fuel cell, that it will purchase an additional 45 fuel cell systems for installation across Long Island this year, for the first time installing them in Long Island homes.

Twenty-five of the 5-kW fuel cell systems — called GenSys™5CS — will be installed at LIPA’s West Babylon Fuel Cell Demonstration Site, which currently contains fuel cell systems feeding directly into the Long Island electrical grid. The remaining 20 systems will generate on-site heat and power for single or multi-family residential sites.

“Fuel cells play a key part in our technology mix for providing Long Island customers with clean and efficient energy,” said Richard M. Kessel, chairman of LIPA. “This application at McDonald’s demonstrates how far we’ve all come to better understand the integration of fuel cells into the electric grid at a customer site. We plan to continue working with Plug Power and our customers to evaluate and measure the potential of fuel cells for heat and power generation and backup supply.”

The McDonald’s fuel cell was installed by LIPA as part of its alternative energy technologies research and development program, which is part of its Clean Energy Initiative (CEI). In addition to its grid-connection program for fuel cells at its West Babylon substation, LIPA has also been placing Plug Power fuel cells at various commercial locations around Long Island, including Hofstra University, and the Babylon and East Hampton Town Halls.

Kessel said that he was particularly pleased to announce that LIPA would begin to install fuel cells in Long Island homes, calling it “the dawning of a new era on Long Island.” He said that he hoped that thousands of Long Island homes and businesses eventually have fuel cells to relieve some of the resources needed to build additional power plants.

More information on LIPA’s Clean Energy Initiative can be found on its Web site at www.lipower.org.

Publication date: 03/10/2003