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Rep. Paul Tonko (D-Amsterdam) announced today that MTI Micro Fuel Cells of Albany and Plug Power of Latham have been awarded a combined $8.5 million in federal grants designed to spur growth in fuel cell development.

The grants are part of $41.9 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will go to companies nationwide for fuel cell development, to be administered by the Department of Energy.

“These investments take us closer to developing fuel cells systems that will make our businesses more energy efficient, save money, and save natural resources,” said Rep. Tonko. “This funding is a clever and constructive response to solving our energy needs, and takes advantage of the intellectual capital that we have built here in the Capital Region.”

This money will support deployment of 1,000 fuel cell systems nationwide for emergency backup and material handling applications, which have emerged as key early markets in which fuel cells can compete with conventional power technologies. Additional systems will be used to accelerate the demonstration of stationary fuel cells for combined heat and power in the larger residential and commercial markets.

Below are the local projects that will be funded:

MTI MicroFuel Cells (Albany, NY)
To accelerate fuel cell use in consumer markets, MTI will demonstrate a one-watt consumer electronics power pack.  The project will focus on improving reliability to meet the standards required by the electronics market and will include testing of individual components, subsystems and complete direct methanol fuel cell systems.  MTI will also develop manufacturing processes to improve product yields and reduce overall costs.
$2.4 million

Plug Power, Inc. (Latham, NY)
This demonstration project will validate the durability of Plug Power’s 5-kW stationary combined heat and power fuel cell system and verify its commercial readiness. Plug Power will carry out a three-year project to test its units in residential and light commercial applications in California.
$3.4 million

Plug Power Inc. (Latham, NY)
This project will demonstrate the market viability of the GenCore® rack-mounted fuel cell product that provides clean and highly reliable emergency backup power. Plug Power will install and operate new systems in real-world applications at geographically-diverse sites, providing for as much as 275 kW of backup power.
$2.7 million

For more information, please visit the Department of Energy website:

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells

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