New Energy Technologies

Project Profile: 
North Central Bronx Hospital Fuel Cell Among Nation’s First at Medical Facility

New York City’s North Central Bronx Hospital has earned the distinction of being among the nation’s first medical facilities to generate electricity from a fuel cell, a room-sized, non-polluting source of power that uses an electrochemical process rather than combustion to generate electricity.

The project demonstrates the suitability of fuel-cell technology for institutions such as hospitals, with no tolerance for interruptions of power in operating and emergency rooms, and for medical equipment and computers.

The $640,000 fuel cell, financed and installed by NYPA and co-funded with a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE), supplements the electricity the hospital receives from the electric grid. It also is capable of providing backup power, in addition to North Central Bronx’s emergency diesel generators, in the event of problems with the grid.

The 200-kilowatt fuel cell, mounted on a second-story rooftop at the hospital, is the third installed by the Power Authority at public facilities in New York City and Westchester County. Two earlier fuel cells, also co-funded by USDOE, are at the Central Park Police Precinct in Manhattan and the Westchester County Wastewater Treatment Plant in Yonkers. The Central Park unit operates independently of the electric power grid in supplying electricity to the precinct, which had relied on an underground power line with insufficient capacity to meet its total needs. The Yonkers unit supplements the facility’s grid power as well as electricity from a NYPA-installed roof-mounted solar power project.

The North Central Bronx fuel cell uses natural gas to produce electricity. Hydrogen obtained from the fuel combines with oxygen to produce power—with emissions limited to water and heat. The fuel cell produces 1,752,000 kilowatt-hours of electrical energy annually, while reducing emissions by 20 tons.

back to fuel cell projects list...

Location: North Central Bronx Hospital, 3424 Kossuth Ave., Bronx, N.Y.

Host: New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation

Rating: 200 kW

Installation Date: December 2000

Manufacturer: United Technologies Fuel Cell Corporation

No. of Units: 1

Technology: Phosphoric Acid

Fuel: Natural gas