In December 2015, the U.S. Department of Energy published the sixth edition of its annual report on the fuel cell industry. Issued by its Fuel Cell Technologies Office, the report is punned State of the States: Fuel Cells in America 2015. As expected, it is a wealth of information on the state of the industry, and it notes that Dominovas Energy Corporation (OTCQB: DNRG) is the only fuel cell company that has been named a Private Sector Partner (PSP) in a multi-stakeholder partnership sponsored by the United States government.
The report opens with a sunny prognosis: ‘The fuel cell industry – which surpassed $2.2 billion in annual sales in 2014 – continues to grow and is generating impressive benefits in a number of ways.’ An increasing number of states are supporting development of the industry because of the promise of additional jobs and increased tax revenues. Fuel cells offer many benefits. They ‘bolster the electric grid, provide reliable and resilient power, reduce emissions, reach remote and rural parts of the country, and utilize domestic sources of energy, including natural gas.’ Fuel cells are also gaining significance as a source of back-up power, particularly in keeping critical communication networks and data centers up and running, but also as a technology ‘to provide primary or backup power to ensure constant power through major storms, or other disruptive events’. From an industry perspective, fuel cells will boost exports and help America regain lost ground in manufacturing.
States are providing tax and other incentives for fuel cells. For example, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has provided financial incentives to support the installation and operation of continuous duty fuel cell systems in New York State, with up to $1 million available for fuel cell systems rated larger than 25kW. A fuel cell system that size will meet the energy needs of the typical household comfortably, and the federal government is lending its support as well. The IRS offers a Fuel Cell Motor Vehicle Credit ‘…if you purchase a fuel cell motor vehicle that is propelled by power that is derived from one or more cells that convert chemical energy directly into electricity. You must purchase the vehicle before January 1, 2017 and begin driving it in the year in which you claim the credit. The base credit is $4,000 for a fuel cell motor vehicle weighing up to 8,500 pounds and $10,000 – $40,000 for heavier vehicles.’ There is also the Business Energy Investment Tax Credit (ITC) under which a tax credit of 30 percent of the purchase price of a fuel cell system can be applied against income tax payable in the year that the unit is placed into service.
Many large businesses are seizing the fuel cell advantage. ‘Wal-Mart is the largest fuel cell customer for material handling equipment (MHE), deploying the technology to power more than 2,800 forklifts at warehouses in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota, with more sites on the way. The company also uses stationary fuel cells to generate power for 44 Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Sam’s Club retail sites in California and Connecticut. Then there’s food service product distributor, Sysco (NYSE: SYY), which has expanded its fuel cell fleet to more than 800 fuel cell-powered forklifts operating at seven of its warehouses in California, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Over the last few years, AT&T (NYSE: T) has deployed fuel cells to provide primary power to almost two dozen data and call centers, as well as backup power to hundreds of cell phone towers in multiple states.’
Dominovas Energy Corporation is positioned to generate and sell electricity on a multi-megawatt scale by way of the commercial production of its Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) technology, known as the RUBICON™. The RUBICON™, by design, will be a highly efficient, combustion-less, and virtually pollution free energy source that will provide electricity to power a wide array of systems, either through distributed power applications (in which power is generated by the user) or to the grid. The technology can be factored and scaled to provide power to entire cities. In principle, a fuel cell is an electrochemical device that operates like a battery. However, unlike a battery, a fuel cell does not require recharging, but refueling. The RUBICON™, as designed, will use fuel, principally hydrogen extracted from natural gas, propane, or other hydro-carbon based fuels along with oxygen extracted from air to produce electricity. The RUBICON™ system will produce energy in the form of electricity and heat as long as there is a constant fuel source. The RUBICON’s™ operation is also quite simple: it has minimal moving parts and operates quietly with low emissions.
For more information, visit www.dominovasenergy.com
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