AIKEN, SC - The first renewable source of hydrogen in South Carolina was unveiled today at the Center for Hydrogen Research (CHR). Santee Cooper and the Center for Hydrogen Research dedicated a 20-kilowatt (kw) solar panel array today that will enable The CHR to research applications of hydrogen as a storage solution for solar energy and other renewable energy sources. Santee Cooper donated $230,000 to the CHR to purchase the array and help establish an onsite and Internet-based education and research system. Funding was provided through Santee Cooper's Green Power program, which the state's 20 electric cooperatives - including Aiken Electric Cooperative - support and promote. A full 100 percent of Green Power funds go toward future renewable energy projects, like today's solar installation. The 20 kw solar array is Santee Cooper's largest solar installation to date. "As a public power company, Santee Cooper's responsibility is to provide affordable, reliable electricity that is protective of our environment," said Lonnie Carter, Santee Cooper president and chief executive officer. "The Center for Hydrogen Research will be an excellent catalyst for developing initiatives that can benefit electric utilities and their customers. This project has the potential to maximize an already-growing hydrogen economy in South Carolina, and that's a goal we can all get behind. I look forward to seeing the fruits of this endeavor." Fred Humes, Director of the Economic Development Partnership and 2007 Chair of the South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance, said "We are very appreciative of the grant from Santee Cooper which enabled the CHR to begin this work on solar power. Hydrogen is an excellent "storage" mechanism for solar and other renewable energy sources. As we look at the technologies of the future, hydrogen will play a major role. We already have fuel cell forklifts operating on a daily basis in Aiken County. This solar to hydrogen technology may well give our industries an independent source of hydrogen to fuel their forklifts, give NetZero homes a way to store excess energy generated by their solar panels, and one day could lead to independent hydrogen fueling stations for vehicles." The process of using hydrogen, fuel cells and renewables together is called "firming" renewables. Firming is when the electricity available from renewables is available whenever a user needs electricity. Renewables such as wind and solar are intermittent in nature, meaning sometimes the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. This poses a challenge for sole reliance on renewables for power generation. By coupling hydrogen fuel cells with renewables then we can have sustainable power whenever we need it. When our supply of sunshine or wind is greater than we demand at the moment then we can use the excess renewable energy to make hydrogen through the electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen. The hydrogen is stored until a time when the sun isn't out or the wind isn't blowing to produce electricity. Best-selling author and global policy shaper, Jeremy Rifkin believes the combination of hydrogen, fuel cells and renewables is the basis for the "Third Industrial Revolution." In his book, "The Hydrogen Economy" Rifkin writes, "[we] can install renewable energy technologies - such as photovoltaic, wind and biomass - to produce [our] own electricity. [We] can then use the electricity to separate hydrogen from water - and store it for subsequent use in fuel cells." Rifkin says, "The question is often asked as to whether renewable energy, in the long run, can provide enough power to run a national or global economy? Just as second generation information systems grid technologies allow businesses to connect thousands of desktop computers, creating far more distributed computing power than even the most powerful centralized computers that exist, millions of local producers of renewable energy, using hydrogen storage and intelligent utility networks, can potentially produce far more distributed power than the older centralized forms of energy - oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear - that we currently rely on." "Aiken County is moving in the right direction," said Shannon Baxter-Clemmons, SCHFCA Executive Director. "The use of hydrogen and fuel cells will enable renewables to take a larger segment of the US energy sector. South Carolina is poised to be the most progressive state in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies with the implementation of more installations like the one at the Center for Hydrogen Research."
About the South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance: The SCHFCA is a public-private collaboration for cooperative and coordinated utilization of resources in the state used to advance the commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. For more information on the SCHFCA and its members, please visit www.schydrogen.org. About the Education, Training and Development (ET&D) Laboratory at the Center for Hydrogen Research: The Education, Training and Development (ET&D) Laboratory at the Center for Hydrogen Research is a fully functional 1100 square foot hydrogen research, development and demonstration laboratory module. The primary purpose of the ET&D laboratory is to house a regenerative fuel cell backup power system with features to support education and outreach, worker training and equipment/systems development.
About Santee Cooper: Santee Cooper is South Carolina's state-owned electric and water utility and the state's largest power producer, supplying electricity to more than 163,000 retail customers in Berkeley, Georgetown and Horry counties, as well as to 29 large industrial facilities, the cities of Bamberg and Georgetown, and the Charleston Air Force Base. Santee Cooper also generates the power distributed by the state's 20 electric cooperatives to more than 700,000 customers in all 46 counties. Approximately 2 million South Carolinians receive their power directly or indirectly from Santee Cooper. The utility also provides water to 137,000 consumers in Berkeley and Dorchester counties, and the town of Santee. For more information, visit www.SanteeCooper.com. For information on how Santee Cooper lives green and how you can go green, visit www.SanteeCooperGreen.com.
Contact: Shannon Baxter Clemmons, Ph. D Executive Director, South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance baxterclemmons@schydrogen.org (803) 727-2897
