GM Touts Fuel-Cell System as Alternative Power Source

General Motors Corp. said Tuesday it has developed a clean-burning fuel-cell generator that could provide electricity to offices and homes and protect facilities such as hospitals and factories from power blackouts.

A single stationary generator could power dozens of homes or offices, said Larry Burns, GM’s vice president for research and development. “With a fuel cell, there wouldn’t be power failures, or at the very least, the likelihood should be greatly reduced,” Burns said in a conference call from an annual automotive industry conference in northern Michigan. “We think this will be the predominant fuel for home and business applications, and would be an easy transition for consumers.”

GM has been testing the fuel cell-powered generator at its Rochester, N.Y., research facility for six months.

The unit is similar to fuel-cell generators DaimlerChrysler is testing that provide power to its Mercedes-Benz factory in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and to the municipal utility company in Bielefeld, Germany. DaimlerChrysler also has a joint venture in Iceland that is experimenting with fuel cells to provide energy for buses, buildings, trains and ships as part of a “hydrogen economy.”

Fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into water and electricity, which is used to run electric motors. If pure hydrogen is used as fuel, water vapor and heat are the only by-products. If fuels containing carbon such as natural gas or gasoline are used, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are emitted, but at much lower levels than from conventional internal combustion engines.

The General Motors unit would run on natural gas because that fuel source is widely available to consumers, Burns said.

Burns would not say when the stationary fuel cell could be commercialized for residential or business use, but he said it could come before fuel cell-powered vehicles go on the market. Businesses that rely heavily on a steady power supply--such as auto makers and other manufacturers, and utility and energy firms--could particularly benefit.

“But the learning side is more important” than racing to commercialize the technology, Burns told reporters. “We have to get to the point where we make them in volumes, get the cost down, and get consumers used to the technology.”

GM’s announcement came the same day Ballard Power Systems Inc. of Vancouver, Canada, said it has begun testing its own stationary fuel-cell power generator, designed to provide backup and standby electrical power.

Ballard did not say when its stationary fuel cell might be available commercially, but said it would undergo testing for the rest of the year. Ballard has a joint venture with DaimlerChrysler and Ford Motor Co. to develop fuel cells for automotive applications.

GM also on Tuesday unveiled a Chevrolet S-10 compact pickup truck which it called the world’s first gasoline-powered fuel-cell vehicle--a key step toward bringing fuel cells to cars because of the easy availability of gasoline.

Other fuel-cell systems that rely on natural gas, methanol or pure hydrogen are limited by the lack of infrastructures to deliver the fuel to vehicles.

The fuel-cell S-10 has 50% fewer emissions than the standard-engine S-10, and has 50% improved fuel economy, so it gets 37 miles per gallon instead of 25.