Tom Hintz – Seahold LLC
UNC Charlotte IDEAS Center
Bioenergy Symposium
April 9, 2013
[email protected]
http://www.seahold.com
© 2013
April 9, 2013
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Thomas Hintz, is the senior/managing partner at SeaHold LLC.
Tom is a seasoned business executive with a solid background of
achievements in profit generation, product/project development.
Tom graduated from Indiana University in 1983. Tom’s main
focus is “Renewable Energy” in California, working with farmers,
private industry, universities, innovative entrepreneurs, and
government agencies. Tom’s greatest strengths are the
conceptualization, visualization and implementation of “waste to
energy” projects that yield significant revenue, while maximizing
environmentally sound practices. Tom is recognized for his
expertise in the field, and regularly advises local, regional and
state regulatory agencies and commissions that govern
“Renewable Energy” projects.
Tom specializes in making projects happen; from the “pie in the
sky” conceptual design through specific, detailed engineering; to
the commissioning and operations of alternative energy facilities
and the eventual interconnection to natural gas and electrical
distribution networks. Tom knows the value of buying and selling
energy credits.
[email protected]
http://www.seahold.com
© 2013
April 9, 2013
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Fuel cells convert chemical energy from hydrogen-rich fuels into
electrical power and usable high quality heat in an electrochemical
process that is virtually absent of pollutants. The energy produced
from renewable processes is an excellent source for fuel cell
technology.
Similar to a battery, a fuel cell is comprised of many individual cells
that are grouped together to form a fuel cell stack. Each individual
cell contains an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte layer. When a
hydrogen-rich fuel such as clean natural gas or renewable biogas
enters the fuel cell stack, it reacts electrochemically with oxygen (i.e.
ambient air) to produce electric current, heat and water. While a
typical battery has a fixed supply of energy, fuel cells continuously
generate electricity as long as fuel is supplied.
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http://www.seahold.com
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Fuel cells make much more efficient use of fuels than
other distributed generation technologies such as
reciprocating engines and gas turbines, and generate
virtually no pollution such as nitrogen oxide (NOx),
sulfur oxide (SOx), or particulate matter (PM10) and
dramatically reduced carbon dioxide (CO2). And with
availability ratings better than 90%, fuel cells are not
hampered by external influences such as time of day
or weather that affect other environmentally-friendly
technologies such as wind turbines and solar power.
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http://www.seahold.com
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1.4 MW at a municipal facility
(Fuel Cell Energy – DFC1500)
[email protected]
http://www.seahold.com
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[email protected]
http://www.seahold.com
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Bloom Energy
◦ Solid Oxide fuel cells for large scale distributed power generation. Specializes in data centers.
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Fuel Cell Energy
◦ Carbonate fuel cells for municipal applications
[email protected]
http://www.seahold.com
© 2013
April 9, 2013
9
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Fuel cells have a higher efficiency than diesel or gas engines.
Most fuel cells operate silently, compared to internal combustion engines. They are
therefore ideally suited for use within buildings such as hospitals.
Fuel cells can eliminate pollution caused by burning fossil fuels; for hydrogen fuelled fuel
cells, the only by-product at point of use is water.
Fuel cells do not need conventional fuels such as oil or gas and can therefore reduce
economic dependence on oil producing countries, creating greater energy security for the
user nation.
The use of stationary fuel cells to generate power at the point of use allows for a decentralized power grid that is potentially more stable.
Higher temperature fuel cells produce high-grade process heat along with electricity and
are well suited to cogeneration applications (such as combined heat and power for
residential use).
Operating times are much longer than with batteries, since doubling the operating time
needs only doubling the amount of fuel and not the doubling of the capacity of the unit
itself.
Unlike batteries, fuel cells have no "memory effect" when they are getting refueled.
The maintenance of fuel cells is simple since there are few moving parts in the system.
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◦ Dependent upon the technology, installation costs range from $4,000/kWH to
$5,500/kWH (www.energy.ca.gov)
◦ Federal/State incentives further reduce the implementation costs
◦ Example: California SGIP (Self Generation Incentive Program)
 Source of funding – State of CA
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Summary: Fuel Cell (CHP or Electric Only): $2.03/W (For projects 30 kW or larger, 50% of incentive
will be received up-front; 50% will be received based on actual kWh production over the first 5 years.
For projects under 30kW, 100% of the incentive will be paid up front
◦ Example: North Carolina Renewable Energy Tax Credit
 Source Of Funding – State of NC
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Summary: Will pay 35%, up to $2.5 million per installation - no minimum system size requirement.
Would be applicable to an anaerobic digestion system feeding to a fuel cell system.
Additional information for local/state/federal incentives can be found at:
http://www.dsireusa.org/ (Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency)
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April 9, 2013
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23551 Rose Quartz Drive
Perris, CA 92570
951-943-9697
[email protected]
[email protected]
http://www.seahold.com
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