Delmarva Power takes first step in bringing Bloom Energy to Delaware

Delmarva Power has filed an application with the Delaware Public Service Commission related to a fuel cell project in Delaware.

The utility's request supports the state's plan to bring Sunnyvale, Calif.-based fuel cell manufacturer Bloom Energy to Delaware.

The fuel cell program will enable Bloom to install 30 megawatts of fuel cell generation in Delaware based on construction of a permanent manufacturing facility on property owned by the University of Delaware in Newark. The plant would create an estimated 900 jobs, in addition to the potential of 600 more supplier jobs. The UD site formerly housed the Chrysler assembly plant, which is now being demolished.

The Chrysler plant, a few miles from the Maryland line, employed hundreds of residents of Cecil County and adjacent areas. The site closed at the ed of 2008.

A Bloom fuel cell system is about the size of parking space. The systems are currently being used by large corporations in California as a way to meet internal and state clean power requirements.

The fuel cell produces electricity from natural gas with less pollution than a natural gas generating plant.

Delaware's Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards call for 25 percent of the company's energy supply to come from clean forms of energy by 2025. In June the Delaware House and Senate approved legislation which expanded the state's acceptable forms of clean energy sources to include fuel cells.

Cost of the plan that would use of what are known as "Bloom Boxes" to Delmarva customers remains a key question. Estimates vary widely between $1 and $3 a month for the average customer's bill based on various published reports. In testimony, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Collin O'Mara, cited an average cost of $1.63 a month.

O'Mara also testified that corporate users in Delaware are also looking at using the Bloom fuel cells for their operations.

The application before the PSC is for its approval of the tariffs for the fuel cell program. As proposed, Bloom Energy's fuel cells will be installed at two locations in the state, with 26 megawatts located near Delmarva Power's Red Lion substation and four megawatts near its Brookside substation. Both are in northern Delaware.

A link to the filings is available at http://tinyurl.com/3hc3tl8

Comment sessions on the proposed fuel cell project are tentatively scheduled on:

- Sept. 27, Public Service Commission, Dover, Del.

- Sept. 28, Carvel State Office Building, Wilmington, Del.

- Sept. 29, Delaware Technical & Community College, Georgetown, Del.

Times have not been set.

Critics of the plan, such as the Caesar Rodney Institute, a conservative think tank, claim that subsidizing alternative energy is making Delaware less attractive to business and hurts consumers through higher electric rates.

Some environmentalists also see the Bloom Box as less desirable option than wind or solar power, since it uses natural gas that has its own environmental issues arising from its extraction. One example is the recent Marcellus shale drilling boom in Pennsylvania and other areas that uses "fracking," a process that uses water and chemicals.

Controvesy has also arisen on the actual energy efficiency of the Bloom fuel cells. The privately held company has taken heat for not releasing more information on the energy efficiency of its fuel cells.

At the same time, supporters point to the fact that the company, based in California's Silicon Valley, has received funding from that area's venture capital community, with technology companies installing the fuel cells.