UPS Systems has installed three 12 kW Hydrogenics fuel cell modules into the Hydrogen Mini Grid System (HMGS), along with nine inverters, three 168 Ah batteries, and supervisory software to control the system. Both the fuel cell units and batteries have been mounted in matching racks, to reduce the space they occupy and make the installation more aesthetically pleasing.

The HMGS has been developed by energy consultancy TNEI Services and hydrogen specialists the Pure Energy Centre. It is designed to produce and store ‘green’ hydrogen energy generated by a 225 kW wind turbine to power the EETC and make it self-sufficient.

‘Generating hydrogen onsite through renewable energy sources such as wind helps to make fuel cells a greener solution,’ says Tom Sperrey, managing director of UPS Systems. ‘Although this is not the first fuel cell installation where we have had to integrate multiple sources of energy, it raised several new technical challenges that our fuel cell technical team successfully addressed.’