VANCOUVER - Ballard Power Systems announced that it has finalized an agreement to deploy a fuel cell system at a K2 Pure Solutions bleach plant in Pittsburg, Calif., that will produce power from byproduct hydrogen.

The agreement between Ballard and K2 Pure Solutions, previously announced in August 2010, anticipated receipt of a routine air permit exemption for the fuel cell system from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and a grant from California’s Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP). Ballard has confirmed that both the air permit exemption and the SGIP Final Reservation Notice Letter have been issued for this project.

Ballard said its CLEARgen™ fuel cell system will convert byproduct hydrogen from the bleach plant process into clean load-following electricity that will partially offset power demand at the state-of-the-art facility. System installation and commissioning is planned for completion by mid-2012.

Ballard stationary fuel cells are used for backup power, distributed power generation, and residential cogeneration. For more information, visit www.ballard.com.

Publication date:03/07/2011