A historic resort being renovated to welcome visitors to the 2012 London Olympics should be lit by the time the torch arrives with a biopowered generator built by an East Tennessee company.
Lenoir City-based Proton Power landed in October the first two customers for its Cellulose to Hydrogen Power system, which utilizes switchgrass, sawdust or even junk mail to make hydrogen, which is used to power a generator.
The technology was developed by former Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher Sam Weaver, who has launched a number of local technology companies since setting up shop in an 1800s-era cabin adjacent to the Roane County Industrial Park.
“What we do is make cheap hydrogen,” he says. “It’s scaleable, on-demand, clean, carbon-neutral, economic and renewable.”
Proton Power will build a system for electricity production and another for thermal production at Heckfield Place, whose owners describe it as a “luxury country house hotel” in Hampshire, England, with the goal of supplying all the resort’s heat and power needs, Weaver says. The systems’ size and the feedstock that will fuel them are still to be determined, although developers are looking to utilize some kind of waste product, he adds.
The second customer is a landfill operator near Charlotte, N.C., where the technology will be used to generate power from demolition and construction wood waste.
The units cost about $3 per watt, with a megawatt plant costing about $3 million, Weaver says. Since Proton Power went commercial with its CHyP system, the company has received inquiries from around the world, including Vietnam, Russia and Haida Gwaii, an island off the coast of Canada.
“Islands are really a sweet spot for our technology,” Weaver says, noting that many small islands depend on diesel generators. The CHyP system provides a quieter, cheaper, green alternative that can utilize locally generated fuel.
Depending on the feedstock, according to Weaver, producing electricity with the units costs 5 cents to 15 cents per kilowatt hour — about 5 cents for wood waste, 8.5 cents for grass clippings or tree limbs and 15 cents for mixed paper. This compares to utility rates of 8 cents to 16 cents per kilowatt hour.
Proton Power is also shopping the units for other potential applications. Ballard Power Systems, a fuel cell manufacturer in British Columbia that is owned by Ford Motor Co., is pairing the CHyP system with its product offerings in proposals to potential
customers.
Weaver believes the hydrogen production systems hold promise for broader power requirements, particularly as the market seeks cleaner sources.
“In many ways it’s an enabling technology for the other green technologies like solar and wind,” Weaver says, because it can supplement what nature can’t provide on a calm day or in the dark of night. “There are a lot of spots in the world for which this is extremely economical, and we expect once we get a bunch of units up … then you’ll see maybe a broader interest.”
Larisa Brass is a contributing writer to the Greater Knoxville Business Journal.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/nov/07/et-built-generators-fueled-plant-material-waste/
Lenoir City-based Proton Power landed in October the first two customers for its Cellulose to Hydrogen Power system, which utilizes switchgrass, sawdust or even junk mail to make hydrogen, which is used to power a generator.
The technology was developed by former Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher Sam Weaver, who has launched a number of local technology companies since setting up shop in an 1800s-era cabin adjacent to the Roane County Industrial Park.
“What we do is make cheap hydrogen,” he says. “It’s scaleable, on-demand, clean, carbon-neutral, economic and renewable.”
Proton Power will build a system for electricity production and another for thermal production at Heckfield Place, whose owners describe it as a “luxury country house hotel” in Hampshire, England, with the goal of supplying all the resort’s heat and power needs, Weaver says. The systems’ size and the feedstock that will fuel them are still to be determined, although developers are looking to utilize some kind of waste product, he adds.
The second customer is a landfill operator near Charlotte, N.C., where the technology will be used to generate power from demolition and construction wood waste.
The units cost about $3 per watt, with a megawatt plant costing about $3 million, Weaver says. Since Proton Power went commercial with its CHyP system, the company has received inquiries from around the world, including Vietnam, Russia and Haida Gwaii, an island off the coast of Canada.
“Islands are really a sweet spot for our technology,” Weaver says, noting that many small islands depend on diesel generators. The CHyP system provides a quieter, cheaper, green alternative that can utilize locally generated fuel.
Depending on the feedstock, according to Weaver, producing electricity with the units costs 5 cents to 15 cents per kilowatt hour — about 5 cents for wood waste, 8.5 cents for grass clippings or tree limbs and 15 cents for mixed paper. This compares to utility rates of 8 cents to 16 cents per kilowatt hour.
Proton Power is also shopping the units for other potential applications. Ballard Power Systems, a fuel cell manufacturer in British Columbia that is owned by Ford Motor Co., is pairing the CHyP system with its product offerings in proposals to potential
customers.
Weaver believes the hydrogen production systems hold promise for broader power requirements, particularly as the market seeks cleaner sources.
“In many ways it’s an enabling technology for the other green technologies like solar and wind,” Weaver says, because it can supplement what nature can’t provide on a calm day or in the dark of night. “There are a lot of spots in the world for which this is extremely economical, and we expect once we get a bunch of units up … then you’ll see maybe a broader interest.”
Larisa Brass is a contributing writer to the Greater Knoxville Business Journal.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/nov/07/et-built-generators-fueled-plant-material-waste/
