The UK's largest hydrogen fuel cell CHP plant has been installed at Transport for London's HQ.
The 200KWe fuel cell, supplied by Logan Energy, is part of a £2.4m combined heat and power (CHP) plant at the Palestra building in Southwark.

The hydrogen fuel cell, funded by the £25m TfL climate change fund, will provide electricity, heat and cooling to the London building. The building's hot water supply will also be heated by the fuel cell.

At times of peak energy use, the building will generate a quarter of its own power, rising to 100% off-peak. The waste heat from power generation will be pumped into a unit on the roof which will work to keep the building cool and supplement the building's six electric chillers.

The project is part of efforts by TfL and the London Development Agency (LDA) to cut carbon emissions from head office buildings and cut £400,000 off its energy bills.

TfL commissioned the project in 2008. As of mid March 2010, the system has been operational for 5860 hours and delivered 969MWhrs of electrical energy. The building is shared by 2,800 TfL and LDA staff. Tfl estimates the fuel cell and power plant will cut carbon emissions by up to 30% and generate £90,000 cost savings per year.

Logan Energy completed the installation and integration of the 200kWe PAFC power module and associated cooling module at the building. Logan Energy is involved in the application of fuel cells and all technologies that generate or utilise hydrogen. Logan Energy Corp., headquartered in Atlanta, has been providing fuel cell solutions since 1994. It has been responsible for the installation of more than 130 fuel cell solutions and operates 25% of the global installations.

The Core Group, based in Guildford, provides commissioning and project management for all aspects of building services installations. It was responsible for co-ordinating the implementation of the tri-generation system at the TfL building.

The system in the TfL building, has been fitted with independent metering to monitor electrical energy delivered to the building, gas consumption and any heat rejected by the system. A system of interconnecting insulated pipe work and electrical cabling connects the fuel cell power module to existing systems to distribute heat and electricity to associated plant and equipment including an absorption chiller, hot water storage system and the main electrical building distribution system.

The system is monitored by building maintenance staff using a remote serial communications link to a computer running the user interface software. The benefits of hydrogen and the fuel cell are described in a multi-media exhibition- fuelled by the energy generated on site.

'Zero polluting hydrogen fuel has the potential to radically transform the way we power our city to create a more pleasant environment. This isn't a fuel of the future, but available right now. To catalyse its use more widely, we are showcasing the technology, so others will be inspired to follow our lead' said Kit Malthouse, chair of the London Hydrogen Partnership, speaking at the opening of the fuel cell exhibition inside the TfL building.

Transport for London's 32 head office buildings will sign up to a joint '10:10 commitment' from April 1, 2010 - 31 March 2011 to reduce carbon emissions by 10% during this period.

TfL's work to improve the sustainability of its buildings has also led to the Palestra getting an excellent BREEAM rating, based on its assessment of the building's energy performance.