Study of Technical and Economic Peasibility of Fuel Cell Cogeneration Applications by Electric Utilities

A previous EPRI study showed signiticant potential penetrations of fuel cells into the future generation mixes of U. S. electric utilities. A new EPRI-sponsored study was conducted to investigate the possible additional benefits of operating these utility-owned fuel cells as cogeneration facilities. Three classes of applications were evaluated: residential and commercial buildings, industrial processes and utility power plants. Incremental breakeven capital costs between cogenerating and electric-only fuel cells were determined with respect to conventional thermal energy supply alternatives. The results showed that there are sufficient economic incentives for fuel cell cogeneration in all three classes of applications.