‘First’ standby-power fuel cell installed in the UK

12 April, 2006

Providing standby power for business-critical IT applications at UPS Systems is this fuel-cell system installed within the building.

An standby power supply based on fuel-cell technology has been installed by UPS Systems for its mainstream business-critical IT applications. This installation of an APC fuel-cell system is believed to be the first of its kind in the UK. The unit has been installed at the company’s Hungerford headquarters and is being used to support servers and desktop PC system. Tom Sperrey, managing director of UPS Systems, says, ‘We are now able to endorse fuel-cell technology as a means of providing standby power, and our belief in the product is such that we felt we should put our money where our mouth is.’ Using fuel-cell technology enables, for the first time, the source of generated power to be located in the computer room, next to the servers it protects and under the direct control of the IT or computer-room manager. There will be no need for costly, time-consuming planning-permission cycles as the only emissions are heat and water. The low noise levels make this technology suitable for indoor installation, even in open-plan offices. The APC system is based on the Hydrogenics fuel-cell engine. Hydrogen is passed over one side of the proton-exchange membrane and oxygen (air) over the other side. Hydrogen and oxygen combine to form water vapour and liberate negative ions which are captured at the membrane. Up to three 10 kW fuel cells can be mounted in the same rack. The fuel-cell system is linked to a 3-phase inverter and will provide potentially unlimited runtime in a power failure. The installation for gas storage and supply was designed with the help of BOC. The installation complies with the HSE Guideline HSG243.

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