Fuel cells as backup power for Italian telecommunication sites: First year of working life

In 2006, Telecom Italia started its first trial testing of fuel cell systems for telecommunications backup power. During Intelec 2006, SGS future s.r.l. (the Italian distributor of ReliOn\´s fuel cells systems) and Telecom Italia, presented the results of the first three trial installations: this experience, performed during six months of specific testing, showed the compliance of this new technology to the strict request and specification asked from the market and a very positive behaviour of the systems in the operating scenario on the territory. This presentation will focus on the results and the behaviour of these three installations located in Northern Italy during the "normal working life" (one year of activity) and completed with the results of additional tests performed during this year and finalized to check the maintenance of the good performance obtained.