MORGANTOWN, W.Va. —  The WATT Corporation and Hope Gas are working on a solid oxide fuel cell (S) that will soon be available to residential customers.

Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Danielle Ramaley, said the SOFC is UL-Listed and can run efficiently on a variety of fuels, including natural gas, propane, renewable natural gas, or natural gas blended with hydrogen. The units are sized for home use and produce 37 kilowatts of electricity each day.

“It uses technology that is similar to a battery, but rather than just storing power and using it, it continuously generates power electrochemically,” Ramaley said.

The fuel cell is a tubular structure about the size of a pen. The process flows fuel through the center and fuel (natural gas) on the outside that pulls the electrons from the natural gas, making electricity. Ramaley said as long as a homeowner has a gas supply in the home, they would have electricity with a SOFC.

“It works without combustion, so that means there are no harmful emissions and no particulates,” Ramaley said. “Because we are not using combustion, you’ve got much lower carbon emissions than you would traditionally have.”

The unit would be installed in the home and vented similar to a gas fireplace and would require basic maintenance annually and a change of the fuel cell every three to five years.

“You’ll have a ten-year life span with minimal maintenance,” Ramaley said. “You’ll be doing filter replacements on an annual basis, and you’ll be changing out the core of the fuel cell every three-to-five years.”

The unit can be controlled and monitored from an app by the homeowner. If problems develop, users can get remote service from Hope Gas or The WATT Corporation, depending on the type of issue.

“Both Hope Gas and the WATT Corp. will be able to provide service to that unit remotely and monitor the operation,” Ramaley said. “Troubleshooting can happen outside of sending a maintenance person to your home.”

The systems could be available in homes on a pilot basis next year. Additionally, the systems can be expanded to groups of ten cells that can be used for larger applications.

“Their plan today is to install the unit at no upfront cost, potentially to their customer base, and add a monthly fee to your gas bill that would cover the cost and operation of the unit over the ten-year life cycle,” Ramaley said.

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