Wwp, Sirti Plan Joint Venture Partners To Collaborate On Development Of Fuel Cell Technology

Washington Water Power Co. and the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute will cooperate on the development of fuel cell technology like that used in spacecraft.

Together with other potential partners, said SIRTI Assistant Director John Ryan, the work could lead to construction of a manufacturing facility in Spokane.

“That whole economic development thrust is what we’re keying on for the time being,” he said.

Fuel cells produce electricity and thermal energy without combustion, said Bill Fuglevant, chief technical services engineer at WWP.

He said the cells are as much as 85 percent efficient when both forms of energy are captured, and they are environmentally clean as well.

They are expensive, Fuglevant said, but make sense for some hospitals and other facilities.

The WWP/SIRTI venture will look for ways to bring costs down and broaden fuel cell applications.

Much of the funding for the joint effort will come from a Department of Defense grant, and Ryan said military bases could also be major customers for the plants.

Fuglevant noted the Japanese expect to have plants as large as 500-megawatts - almost sufficient to supply Spokane - in place within 15 years.

“That technology will be used to re-engineer the old thermal plants,” he said.

Fuglevant said WWP is negotiating with Dow Chemical Co. and Ballard Power Systems Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia, which have the rights to some of the technology WWP wants to work with.

Their focus has been transportation, he said, while WWP is more interested in small, stationary power plants. Such facilities, placed close to population centers, would prevent energy losses that can occur when power is transmitted from distant hydro, coal or nuclear plants, he said.

“Initially, we will focus on fuel cell plants fueled by natural gas,” Fuglevant added. “As a combination utility, WWP is well-positioned to meet the broader applications of natural gas, like fuel cell technology, in the future.”

The fuel-cell work will take place at SIRTI and various field locations.

Ryan noted the pact with WWP is the latest in a series between SIRTI and area companies and government agencies.