Barriers and incentives to commercialization of fuel cell technology in cogeneration applications. Final report

Technical Report · Tue Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1981

OSTI ID:5996829

The ultimate commercialization of a new energy technology rests heavily upon its economic viability. Recent studies of fuel cell technology commercialization have focused on the supply side and the role of government in reducing the risk exposure of the initial commercial manufacturers of fuel cells. Little attention has been paid, however, to the demand side and the role government incentives might have on the potential users of the technology. This study identifies a number of existing and potential barriers to and incentives for adopting fuel cells by these users. Industry and electric utility ownership are considered. A discounted cash-flow model is developed to test the sensitivity of financial performance to a variety of financial incentives and identified credits. These credits are attributable to fuel cell performance and environmental benefits compared to other technologies. Finally the report describes an initial analytical framework for exploring the relative effectiveness of alternative incentives. The focus of this study is on cogeneration applications for fuel cells because this use has shown promise in previous studies. The Cogeneration Systems Application of Fuel Cells Working Group (COSAF, 1980), a group of DOE contractors who evaluated the application of fuel cells to industrial cogeneration, identifed the Hooker Chemical (Occidental Petroleum) chlorine/caustic acid plant in Taft, Louisiana as a representative industrial site. Louisiana Power and Light which currently supplies power to the Hooker Plant was selected to study the utility owned cogeneration approach.

• Research Organization: Pennsylvania Univ., Philadelphia (USA). Energy Center
• DOE Contract Number: AC01-80ET17076
• OSTI ID: 5996829
• Report Number(s): DOE/ET/17076-T1; ON: DE85006293
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290800 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Heat Utilization-- (1980-)
30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
300500* -- Fuel Cells
BOILERS
CAPITALIZED COST
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
COGENERATION
COMMERCIALIZATION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS
CONSTRAINTS
COST
DEUS
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
DUAL-PURPOSE POWER PLANTS
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
ENERGY SYSTEMS
FINANCIAL INCENTIVES
FLUIDIZED BED BOILERS
FUEL CELL POWER PLANTS
FUEL CELLS
GAS TURBINES
INDUSTRY
MACHINERY
OWNERSHIP
POWER GENERATION
POWER PLANTS
PUBLIC UTILITIES
REGULATIONS
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
STEAM GENERATION
STEAM TURBINES
TURBINES
TURBOMACHINERY