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New Environment Friendly Energy Plant Slated for EPA’s Fort Meade Science Center - Public Meeting Scheduled for August 17, 2000 at EPA Environmental Science Center

Release Date: 8/8/2000
Contact Information: Donna Heron, 215-814-5113

Donna Heron, 215-814-5113

FORT MEADE, Md. – A construction project will soon get underway at EPA’s Environmental Science Center to demonstrate a new, environmentally friendly energy source.

Community residents will have an opportunity to hear about the project and get all their questions answered at a public meeting to be held 10 a.m., August 17 at the Environmental Science Center, 701 Mapes Rd., Fort Meade, Md. The meeting will take place in the science center’s main conference room.

The demonstration project will involve the installation of a 1 megawatt solid oxide fuel cell power plant to be houses in a new 90 by 55 by 20 foot building. This plant will eventually provide the heat and electricity for the Environmental Science Center, weaning it away from using commercial power.

Solid oxide fuel cells have the potential to offer highly efficient and environmentally friendly power generation. The plants produce dramatically fewer emissions than conventional power sources, and their byproducts – primarily water and carbon dioxide – are so clean that natural-gas fuel cell power plants have a blanket exemption from regulations in California’s South Coast air quality management district, possibly the strictest in the nation.

EPA is proposing a fuel cell, produced by Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation, that if successful, would be the largest operating device of its kind in the world. Through this demonstration project, the agency hopes to encourage further development of clean electric power generation technology, and to showcase technology with a lower level of air pollutants than conventional fossil fuel-based technology.

Unlike conventional combustion technologies, solid oxide fuel cells generate electric power through a highly efficient electrochemical process that nearly eliminates air pollutants and drastically reduces greenhouse gases. The Department of Energy estimates that nearly 100,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide, 41,000 pounds of nitrogen oxide, and 4,100 tons of carbon dioxide emissions could be reduced annually per megawatt of electricity generated with fuel cells.

The proposed demonstration project involves locating a 1.0 megawatt pressurized solid oxide fuel cell/gas turbine power plant at EPA’s Environmental Science Center at Fort Meade. The project is a public-private partnership consisting of EPA, the U.S. Department of Energy, Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation, and Cinergy Technology. The total cost of the project is $24 million.

Construction is currently in the design phase and it is expected to take two years for the plant to be up and running.

A draft environmental assessment, prepared under authority of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), is available for review, and contains more information about the purpose and need, the affected environment, and the environmental consequences of this proposed project.

Federal, state and local government officials will be on hand at the public meeting to answer questions.

Any questions about this meeting or the project in general can be directed to Carol Amend at 215-814-5430.