Fuel cell engine to be built in Derry Borough

A new solid oxide fuel cell engine that will initially have military and defense applications will soon begin development at a former industrial ceramics plant in Westmoreland County.

Touted as a revolutionary development in power generation, the environmentally friendly turbo fuel cell engine will be produced at the Porcelain Park Industrial Complex in Derry Township. The project eventually will employ 150.

The project will be developed by Pittsburgh Electric Engines Inc., a new company composed of former Westinghouse Electric Corp. workers.

The company will begin operations in December at its new research and development facility at Porcelain Park, a 20-acre site containing 560,000 square feet that has been vacant since 1995, and subsequently designated by the state as a Keystone Opportunity Zone. The plant is a former Westinghouse Industrial Ceramics plant.

Separately, fuel cell development in the region got a huge boost earlier this month when Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp. agreed to spend $122 million to build a fuel cell manufacturing plant at the Waterfront in Munhall that eventually could employ 500.

Following renovations, Pittsburgh Electric Engines expects to hire workers within two years. As work moves from development to production, the company expects to employ more than 150 people, Owen Taylor, chief executive of Pittsburgh Electric Engines, said in a statement.

Pittsburgh Electric Engines was incorporated in May 1997 for the purpose of designing, manufacturing and selling 'clean' engines for transportation markets.

U.S. Rep. John Murtha, a Johnstown Democrat who steered a contract from the Army to Pittsburgh Electric to get the project started, said more work has to be done on fuel cells in the interest of national security.

Taylor said advances by company personnel and others make the turbo fuel cell engine practical and cost-competitive for heavy truck application.

He said the new engine combines the power generation of two different sources - a fuel cell and a turbine.

The engine is a solid oxide fuel cell combined with a turbo-alternator, which is a 'turbo charger' that produces electricity. Integrated fuel reforming allows the engine to operate on fuels such as diesel, jet, kerosene, gasoline, ethanol, methanol as well as natural gas.

Taylor said the new fuel cell engine could become the engine of choice for the heavy highway truck engine market, as well as closely related markets such as transit buses and military vehicles.

Taylor said other benefits of fuel cells include fuel savings of around 40 percent, a 20 percent reduction of nitrous oxide emissions, very low noise, no smoke or particulate emissions, and a 40 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

A fuel cell operates like a battery but will not run down nor require recharging; as long as fuel is supplied, it will produce energy in the form of heat and electricity.