Verizon hosts first fuel cell-powered telecom site

An alternative energy technologies demonstration launched today transformed a Verizon Communications engineering facility at Woburn, Mass., into the nation’s first fuel cell-powered telecommunications site.

The project, jointly developed by Nuvera Fuel Cells and Verizon with the support of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, will develop, test and evaluate fuel cell systems in the 5kW range, which is the amount of energy require by many distributed telecommunications electronics sites, including those supporting local and wireless phone service.

During the 500-hour demonstration, the fuel cell will provide primary power to Verizon’s facility, which provides local phone service to about 200 customers, and houses engineering, installation and maintenance personnel. The fuel cell is capable of converting commonly available fuels such as natural gas into hydrogen to generate electricity.

Donna Cupelo, Verizon region president for Massachusetts and Rhode Island, said in a statement that the telecom industry is facing “a growing need for high-quality power” and called the project an important step in developing “innovative, environmentally friendly, fuel-efficient technology.”

--Glenn Bischoff, senior news writer