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Biofuels Photo courtesy Town of Hempstead

Published on January 29th, 2012 | by Andrew

9

Long Island Town Pioneers Closed-Loop, Pollution-Free Wind Power-Hydrogen Fuel System

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January 29th, 2012 by  

Photo courtesy Town of Hempstead

Outside of New York City on Long Island, the town of Hempstead is the site for a small, though novel, experiment in closed-loop clean energy production, storage, and use. There, a 100-kilowatt (kW) “state-of-the-art” wind turbine is being used to generate electricity sufficient to produce hydrogen gas that’s being used to fuel the town’s fuel cell vehicles, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) reports.

The entire closed-loop system is 100% pollution-free and could serve as a model for public-private partnerships in general, as well as for similar 100%-clean-energy installations to come. Working with Hempstead Town, the project is a joint effort by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the Sustainability Institute at Molloy College, the New York Institute of Technology, Wilke Engineering, the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), Northern Power Systems, National Grid, Proton Energy Systems, the Point Lookout and Lido Beach Civic Associations, and the Point Lookout-Lido Fire Dept.

Located near the coast, steady winds off the Atlantic provide the energy for a 121-foot Northern Power Systems’ wind turbine capable of operating almost continuously and generating up to 180-megawatts (MW) of electrical power a year. The electricity is used to split hydrogen from water as a gas, which is stored and then dispensed from Long Island’s only hydrogen refueling station at Hempstead’s Conservation and Waterways Dept. in Pt. Lookout.

DOE Grant Powers Public-Private Sector Initiatives

Air Products is providing the hydrogen production and storage technology. The hydrogen fuel will be used by the town’s Toyota fuel-cell vehicles and a fuel-cell bus, a fleet that the town’s leaders are now looking to expand.

The clean, renewable hydrogen fuel and electrical power the system produces is expected to save LIPA customers an estimated $40,000. Actual savings will vary based on the town utility’s variable rate structure. The electrical energy surplus to hydrogen production needs will be fed into LIPA’s grid, which is operated under contract by National Grid.

“By utilizing the great wind resource in Long Island, the Northern Power 100 wind turbine will help provide real cost savings, emissions reductions and energy security to the Town of Hempstead,” Brett Pingree, sales and marketing VP for Northern Power Systems, commented. “It makes perfect sense that a forward-thinking municipality would be the one to lead by example as we all plan for our evolving energy future.”

Hempstead applied for and received a $4.6-million grant from the Dept. of Energy (DOE) to fund the project. Installing the wind turbine cost $615,000, while Town personnel performed some $150,000 worth of electrical and marine bulkheading. according to IREC’s report.

Applauding the efforts of the local government leaders who spearheaded the project, LIPA COO Michael D. Hervey was quoted as saying, “Kate Murray and the Town of Hempstead are true Long Island leaders in advancing the use of solar and wind into Long Island’s energy portfolio.

“LIPA was happy to provide technical assistance with this project, and remains committed to working with our residents, local governments, businesses, and community leaders to promote and invest in energy efficiency and renewable technologies through our nationally recognized solar, wind and Efficiency Long Island programs, which help to improve our environment and accelerate the clean energy economy.”

Building a Clean Energy Community

Hempstead’s moving forward across multiple clean energy and energy conservation fronts, IREC notes. In addition to the wind-electricity-hydrogen system, the town’s investing the DOE grant money to construct a 60-kW solar field, two solar trackers, a solar PV carport and a geothermal energy project, all of which are located at its Conservation and Waterways facility. EmPower Solar is the private sector provider for the solar PV system.

The DOE grant flows through its Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. Recipients of block grants, such as Hempstead, “are deploying innovative clean energy products and services and helping families, businesses and governments reduce energy waste,” the Program Lead for the U.S. DOE program was quoted as saying. “This project can serve as a model for other local governments that want to use renewable energy sources to reduce the need to buy gas and diesel fuel and save money in the process.”

The awarding of the grant has enabled Hempstead to fund clean-energy and energy-conservation projects while keeping a lid on local taxes. The town has put a freeze on tax increases for 2012, the IREC report notes.

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About the Author

I've been reporting and writing on a wide range of topics at the nexus of economics, technology, ecology/environment and society for some five years now. Whether in Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Americas, Africa or the Middle East, issues related to these broad topical areas pose tremendous opportunities, as well as challenges, and define the quality of our lives, as well as our relationship to the natural environment.


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  • http://yrihf.com John Bailo

    This is fantastic. Closed loop shows the metrics of being 100% CO free! However, the beauty is as a kernel for building a true Hydro-grid and 21st century economy based on hydrogen as a fuel!

  • dcmeserve

    Pretty unclear article. How many H2 cars/buses are in their “fleet”? To be supplied by a 100kw turbine — would that be 1 bus and 2 cars? What’s the range of these cars? How much do they cost? How many refueling points are there? What was the rest of the $4.6 million grant used for? What is the efficiency of their H2 system (I’d expect 50% loss in the electrolysis, some other huge loss when transferring the H2 from storage tanks to vehicles, another 50% loss in the vehicles’ fuel cells, …)?

    • dcmeserve

      Found my way to the town’s own posting. It really *is* a single bus and a couple of passenger vehicles. Also, they make the same “180 MW per year” mistake that appears in this and other cut-and-paste articles. Seems to fit — the same minds that are so unclear on the topic that they would say “megawatts per year” would also be the ones who still think an H2 infrastructure is the wave of the future. And willing to invest their town’s precious resources into it.

      • Akbweb2

        Apologies for not catching the 180MW per year mistake…

        Otherwise, this is a brief news post with clear reference to an original, first-hand source; it’s not intended to be a thorough investigation…

        You assume that the entire grant went to this one project, which is not the case…

        • dcmeserve

          I saw that same “MW per year” mistake in the other copies of this story around the web, so I don’t blame you. :) It’s the original writers, who were apparently part of the town. And I’m sorry if my “minds” comment was written too lazily to make it clear that I was talking only about the actual decision-makers, not the news-relayers.

          And thank you for the link to the source — though it’s actually second-hand (see the bottom of that page).

          “You assume that the entire grant went to this one project, which is not the case.”

          True. From the IREC page, I see:

          “In addition to the wind turbine, U.S. Department of Energy grant funding is being used to finance the construction of a 60K solar field, two solar trackers (solar panels which follow the path of the sun), a solar-powered carport and a geothermal energy project that will address heating and cooling needs at the town’s Conservation and Waterways facility.”

          So we don’t know how much was spent on the hydrogen component of their infrastructure. But I’m quite sure that they could have bought quite a few LEAF cars for the same cost as that infrastructure + vehicles. Though perhaps not a bus…

    • dcmeserve

      Oh, also it’s a *single* refueling point, right next to the wind turbine.

      By the way, for comparison, with the remaining $3.8 million of their grant (after the turbine costs listed above), they could have theoretically bought over 100 Nissan LEAFs, in place of this H2 stuff.

  • larry giglio

    hello. not feeling bad about them incorporating my concept. the need to involve other entities diminishes as you apply hydrogen directly to an electrical generator.

  • Muchos Huevos

    I can hardly wait for all of this projects be operating, so we could gain independance from oil, coal and other poluting products, and for ethanol, I hope they stop using food products to make it, due to drought ans too mush water, worldwide, we may be about to see chortages of corn and other foods.
    Just hope for clean energy be implementer on cars also.

  • http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan

    Hmm, the link’s broken.

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