The UK’s largest fuel cell system has been installed at a landmark redevelopment project in central London.
HARNESSING THE POWER OF HYDROGEN
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he fuel cell installation, which was designed and integrated by Edinburghbased Logan Energy, has been undertaken at The Crown Estate’s £400 million, 270,000 sq ft (25 000m2) mixed-use Quadrant 3 scheme. The 300 kW molten carbonate fuel cell forms part of one of the world’s most sophisticated central energy systems, which serves more than half-a-million square feet of offices, retail, residential, restaurant, and hotel space in the Regent Street Quadrant area. This is the first molten carbonate fuel cell to be installed in the UK, and the most efficient fuel cell installation in Europe, emitting 38 per cent less CO2 than using electricity from the grid and heat from efficient gasfired boilers. Fuel cell power provides the most efficient combined cooling, heat and power distributed energy schemes, and was chosen to help the project meet its clean air and carbon reduction targets. The 300 kW fuel 14 Industry Europe
cell CHP installation – supplied by FuelCell Energy in Connecticut – runs on natural gas, with no combustion products such as NOx, SOx and particulates, and saving 350 tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum. The heat from this fuel cell installation will be used for facility heating and cooling, resulting in maximum efficiency and cost savings for The Crown Estate’s customers. The overall efficiency of the installation is estimated at 83 per cent, but with a higher electrical contribution than other types of distributed generation. Fuel cells have the potential to revolutionise the way we power our world, offering cleaner, more-efficient alternatives to the combustion of gasoline and other fossil fuels. They could one day replace the internal-combustion engine in vehicles and can already provide power in stationary and portable power applications because they are energy-efficient, clean and fuel-flexible. Because the oxidation of the fuel in a fuel cell is an electrochemical reaction and not
combustion, the exhaust emissions are ultra low in NOx, SOx and particulates. Fuel cells produce DC electricity which is stabilised and then converted, using an inverter, to AC. All fuel cells produce water as a by-product so the exhaust can be condensed and water produced. This is generally of a high purity and can be cleaned to produce de-ionised water. The Quadrant 3 scheme’s pioneering sustainable features have been key to attracting its first office tenant to its 18,600m2 (200,000 ft2) of Grade A space. Generation Investment Management, the independent investment management firm dedicated to long-term, sustainable investing, has signed a 15-year lease for the 1980m2 (21,300 ft2) top floor space. Endorsing Quadrant 3, Al Gore, chairman of Generation Investment Management, said: “Generation is delighted to be The Crown Estate’s anchor tenant in this exciting building. The AirW1 office space and associated public realm development showcases
