NFCRC In the News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE
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Kathy Haq, 949.824.1999 Ext. 118
UCI to Participate in Groundbreaking Residential Fuel Cell Tests
Department of Energy Funds University Partnership with Plug Power
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Irvine, Calif., April 16, 2009 — UC Irvine’s National Fuel Cell Research Center will partner with New York-based Plug Power to test the viability of the latest generation of fuel cell technology for providing electricity and heat to homes. The $3.4 million partnership, which includes Southern California Gas Company, is a beneficiary of the $42 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for fuel cell technology announced Wednesday by Energy Secretary Steven Chu. The three-year project is intended to verify the durability and commercial readiness of Plug Power’s combined heat and power GenSys product. Designed for residential and small business applications, GenSys replaces traditional furnaces and boilers, creating electricity and high-quality heating for consumers. The trial fuel cells will be installed in highly visible locations in Southern California.
“The world looks to California as the testing ground for next-generation power technologies. The eventual shift to fuel cell technology is not an incremental change to society, but rather a dramatic and fundamental shift in the way electrical power will be provided to individual homes,” said Scott Samuelsen, NFCRC director. “UCI has played an integral role in leading this transformation, and we are excited to partner with Plug Power in this important next step.”
Katrina Fritz Intwala, vice president of government and public relations at Plug Power said the Department of Energy’s vision and leadership has facilitated industry expansion.
“This will allow companies like Plug Power and its customers to deploy exciting alternative energy products and accelerate the growth of green jobs,” she said. “We appreciate the DOE’s investment and commitment to fuel cell technology.”
About the University of California, Irvine: UCI is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Founded in 1965, UCI is among the fastest-growing University of California campuses, with more than 27,000 undergraduate and graduate students, 1,100 faculty and 9,200 staff. The top employer in dynamic Orange County, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $4.2 billion. For more UCI news, visit www.today.uci.edu. News Radio: UCI maintains on campus an ISDN line for conducting interviews with its faculty and experts. Use of this line is available for a fee to radio news programs/stations that wish to interview UCI faculty and experts. Use of the ISDN line is subject to availability and approval by the university.
News Radio: UCI maintains on campus an ISDN line for conducting interviews with its faculty
and experts. Use of this line is available for a fee to radio news programs/stations that wish to
interview UCI faculty and experts. Use of the ISDN line is subject to availability and approval
by the university.
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