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NJ Natural Gas Partners With College On Fuel Cell Project

Ocean County College’s has announced its partnership with New Jersey Natural Gas Company to install and operate a 250-kilowatt fuel cell system that will generate a portion of the college’s electricity using natural gas.

Ocean County College’s has announced plans to install, own, and operate a 250-kilowatt fuel cell system that will generate a portion of the college’s electricity using natural gas. The New Jersey Natural Gas Company (NJNG) will supply the natural gas needed to power the on-site generation equipment.

"We are pleased to be a part of the college’s commitment to achieving new standards for environmentally friendly and energy-efficient operations," said Laurence M. Downes, chairman and CEO of NJNG. "Fuel cells offer low emissions and high efficiency, while at the same time increase reliability and power quality."

Fuel cells are a type of distributed generation technology that generate electricity through a chemical process with no combustion. Since the fuel is not burned, pollution commonly associated with traditional electric generation is reduced considerably. Distribution generation is broadly defined as the use of small-scale power generation technologies located close to the load being served and include fuel cells, microturbines, reciprocating engines, combustion gas turbines, photovoltaics, and wind turbines.

OCC will be the first college in NJNG’s service territory to install this type of technology, which is expected to run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The college projects $60,000 in energy cost savings per year by installing the natural gas-powered fuel cell system, which will meet about 90% of the power needs of three of OCC’s main buildings.

Construction is expected to begin this winter, with the fuel cell system operational by the spring of 2003.

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