FUEL OF THE FUTURE?

The massive blackout that gripped the Northeast over the summer demonstrated just how well wireline carriers have engineered their power networks. Despite the success, however, the blackout—which affected more than 50 million people across seven states and two Canadian provinces—exposed the limitations of current power strategies. Had it lasted much longer, carriers' ability to keep generators fueled would have been severely tested. Eventually, batteries would have failed, switches would have ceased operating and widespread service outages would have resulted.

One obvious solution would be to invest in more and better batteries. But Verizon Communications and BellSouth are envisioning a more forward-looking approach: hydrogen fuel cells. The automotive industry has been talking about the technology for years, yet fuel cell-powered cars remain a Jetson-like dream. That's not the case in telecom.

Verizon is testing hydrogen fuel cells at remote terminals—including one at the Albany, N.Y., airport—and plans to convert a 50,000-line central office on Long Island to the technology by this time next year. BellSouth will test hydrogen fuel cells at one of its remote terminals beginning next year.

The four hours of life that most batteries provide should be adequate for nearly all backup applications, said Al Cioffi, vice president of product management and business development for battery manufacturer Valere Power, suggesting that Verizon and BellSouth might be overreacting a bit. “About 95% of all AC outages last less than two minutes,” Cioffi said. “And few last more than four hours. A massive blackout like the one last summer happens once every 25 years.”

But fuel cells have several advantages over conventional power sources, according to John Chestnut, Verizon's program manager in charge of converting the Garden City, N.Y., CO. They never have to be recharged, cost about 40% less to operate and reduce the amount of pollutants that are released into the atmosphere. And unlike diesel generators, they produce power without combustion or burning of fossil fuels, a plus since about half of the nation's fossil fuel reserves have been depleted over the past 30 years, said Chestnut.

Fuel cells in a central office deployment convert natural gas to hydrogen, which then combines with oxygen to create DC power. The process also creates thermal energy, which Verizon plans to use to heat the central office, and water. At a remote location, hydrogen—one of the planet's most plentiful resources—simply is stored in liquid form in large tanks. “This is a very clean, reliable plant,” Chestnut said.

The Garden City conversion will cost Verizon about $15.25 million, and the carrier will spend about $400,000 per year to operate and maintain the fuel cell plant and another $800,000 annually for its natural gas supply. But it is money well spent, Chestnut said, as Verizon expects to save between $250,000 and $500,000 per year in operating costs compared with the current power infrastructure.

Much of the savings will be realized through an incentive program administered by Long Island Power Authority (LIPA). When the conversion is completed at this time next year, seven 200-kilowatt fuel cells will supplement the commercial AC power coming into the building. It will be the largest fuel cell deployment in the world, according to Verizon.

“We are displacing about 50% of the commercial power to the central office,” Chestnut said. Over the summer, Verizon will rely almost exclusively on the fuel cells to take advantage of a LIPA incentive program; the utility will offer Verizon a steep discount on its power purchases for the rest of the year.

Verizon also could be eligible for tax credits equal to 6% of the installed equipment costs for the first five years the fuel cell plant is in operation. According to Chestnut, those credits could save Verizon another $150,000 to $340,000 per year. In addition, Verizon will receive about $4 million in federal and state grants.

But Chestnut said money isn't the only incentive. “We want to be poised to change when change is necessary and to change quickly, and this is going to allow us to do that,” he said.

In the first phase of the project, the DC power created by the fuel cells will be converted to AC power in parallel with the commercial AC power coming from LIPA. It will then be run through a rectifier to convert it back to DC in order to power the facility's switches and charge its batteries. The second phase will address that inefficiency by running the DC power generated by the fuel cells through a voltage regulator to directly power its equipment, Chestnut said.

The images that pop into most people's minds when they think about large amounts of stored hydrogen are the Hindenburg and the Challenger space shuttle. That's not so good when you have to convince a municipality to keep a large supply of the stuff on hand to fuel a CO or equipment hut.

It's not just public officials who have to be convinced, said John Celantano, president of industry analyst Skyline Marketing Group. “A telco guy is going to see pure hydrogen tanks sitting there and is going to get a little antsy,” Celantano said. “They get antsy just being around batteries.”

But Verizon and BellSouth both maintain hydrogen is a safe option. Storing hydrogen is no different than storing propane, said Hank Kaska, chief architect-science and technology for BellSouth. “A lot of safety and handling procedures already have been developed for propane, and I'm sure some of those same procedures will be adopted for handling hydrogen,” Kaska said.

Because hydrogen is one of the lightest elements, it will dissipate very quickly should some be accidentally released into the atmosphere, said Tom Bean, the Verizon program manager who is directing the outside plant fuel cell deployments.

However, to achieve the amount of energy they need, Verizon and BellSouth will have to store the hydrogen in a highly concentrated state in high-pressure tanks, said Cioffi.

While he agreed that the hydrogen would dissipate if released, Cioffi said its highly concentrated state means that a lot of it is going to enter the atmosphere, which is not a good thing.

“I'm not saying it's going to go up like a Ford Escort, because gasoline has a much higher energy density than hydrogen—but if it ignites, it's going to go,” Cioffi said, adding that batteries store their energy in a benign state. “If you kick one over, the worst that will happen is that you'll spill some acid.”

But Bean said the fact that Verizon has deployed a fuel cell at Albany Airport is testimony that the technology is safe. “They wouldn't have let us do that if they were concerned,” he said.