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Reliability, not cost, is the primary issue. The transport grid nationwide is in serious need of repair and upgrading. The move toward owning one's power gener

Reliability, not cost, is the primary issue. The transport grid nationwide is in serious need of repair and upgrading. The move toward owning one's power generation at a time when the state is issuing IOU's makes business sense. Perhaps it's a hedge against concerns over what they perceive the utilities must do in the next 25 years to keep the lights on.

lsc 16y ago
that was my thought. I mean, if I was considering provisioning these in my data centre, I'd set them up as the primary power source, while provisioning enough grid capacity to work as my backup power source. hell, that way I could choose grid power vs. the fuel cell power based on what the spot price of fuel looks like. When costing it out, I'd compare it to the cost of running on primary grid power plus the cost of buying and maintaining a backup battery + diesel generator system, and those costs are substantial, so yeah, these things sound very interesting, in a few years, for applications where redundant power is called for. Of course, I don't know how the cost numbers would work out; Right now, I pay "retail" for my data centre space, and I probably eat around, 10Kw in power (plus cooling, so that might be closer to 20-30Kw total. at this scale, in someone else's data centre, your cooling costs are rolled into your power costs.) but certainly, if it's at parity with grid power, the fact that it's redundant, in that a grid failure won't take it out, is a pretty big plus that's worth a substantial capital investment.
- johnohara 16y ago
  Few people know that in Las Vegas, cogeneration is essential. MGM Mirage owns the Grand, Luxor, Bellagio, Mirage and now the City Center. They do their best to provide their own power or at least provide complete backup capability in the event of an outage. The new City Center development has its own 8.5 megawatt generating facility. http://www.energytimes.com/pages/departments/1002/earthmatters1002.html http://www.energytimes.com/pages/departments/1002/earthmatte... Most people think all that glitz comes from the Hoover Dam, but I think they they generate a lot of it themselves.
easp 16y ago
Or a hedge against a replay of the Enron-era.

lsc 16y ago

that was my thought. I mean, if I was considering provisioning these in my data centre, I'd set them up as the primary power source, while provisioning enough grid capacity to work as my backup power source. hell, that way I could choose grid power vs. the fuel cell power based on what the spot price of fuel looks like. When costing it out, I'd compare it to the cost of running on primary grid power plus the cost of buying and maintaining a backup battery + diesel generator system, and those costs are substantial, so yeah, these things sound very interesting, in a few years, for applications where redundant power is called for. Of course, I don't know how the cost numbers would work out; Right now, I pay "retail" for my data centre space, and I probably eat around, 10Kw in power (plus cooling, so that might be closer to 20-30Kw total. at this scale, in someone else's data centre, your cooling costs are rolled into your power costs.) but certainly, if it's at parity with grid power, the fact that it's redundant, in that a grid failure won't take it out, is a pretty big plus that's worth a substantial capital investment.

johnohara 16y ago
Few people know that in Las Vegas, cogeneration is essential. MGM Mirage owns the Grand, Luxor, Bellagio, Mirage and now the City Center. They do their best to provide their own power or at least provide complete backup capability in the event of an outage. The new City Center development has its own 8.5 megawatt generating facility. http://www.energytimes.com/pages/departments/1002/earthmatters1002.html http://www.energytimes.com/pages/departments/1002/earthmatte... Most people think all that glitz comes from the Hoover Dam, but I think they they generate a lot of it themselves.

easp 16y ago

Or a hedge against a replay of the Enron-era.