March 8, 2004
MiBiz Network
By Rod Kackley

MUSKEGON - Phase one of the installation of the Fuel Cell Energy Inc. fuel cell that will eventually power the Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center (MAREC) has been completed. By the end of March, it should begin producing energy, according to MAREC Executive Director Dr. Imad Mahawili.

The fuel cell power plant will provide electricity and a heat recovery system for heating and cooling that advances energy technology applications in newly created research space, incubator facilities, conference center and classrooms. The project will also include a solar/photovoltaic installation that will provide electricity.

MAREC is believed to be the first commercial project in the world to integrate fuel cell technology, a heat recovery system for heating and air conditioning, photovoltaics and a nickel metal hydride battery storage system to store excess energy. The result will be a building that powers itself using green sources.

Mahawili addressed a meeting of the Muskegon Area Chamber of Commerce Energy Efficiency Committee February 19 and also told them that several companies have expressed an interest in moving into the incubator space offered inside MARAC.

"I am receiving some very serious interest," he told MiBiz. "I can’t reveal any names or any kind of a timetable, however."

MAREC is both a business incubator and education research center, as well as a major demonstration project of energy technologies. The energy program will integrate fuel cell technology, a heat recovery system for heating and air conditioning, solar/photovoltaics, and a nickel metal hydride battery storage system.

MAREC offers four offices to companies that want to develop products associated with the mission of producing new sources of energy. Mahawili said the companies would also be able to use lab space. Four-thousand square feet of the 26,600-square-foot MAREC building will be devoted to incubator space once alternative energy entrepreneurs move into the building on the Muskegon Lake shoreline just outside of downtown Muskegon.

He also said progress is being made on the idea of converting biomass (animal manure) to methane gas and then converting methane gas to electricity. The plant could be set up on a farm or at a wastewater treatment facility in Muskegon County, he said.

"Everything is a possibility. It is too early in the game to be more specific," said Mahawili. He has put together a grant proposal for the $1.3 million that would be needed to set up a pilot plant for that process.

"This is going to be an operating plant on a site where manure can be used on a regular basis to create methane gas," he said.

Mahawili's own work on alternative and renewable energy began early in his career. He began his work as a chemical engineer in 1974, developing chemical feedstock from coal for the chemical industry as a consequence of the 1973 energy crisis.

"I see MAREC as a timely and critical vision for the development of economically viable technologies for alternative and renewable energy resources for our nation," he said.

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This article appeared in the March 8, 2004 issue of MiBiz, read by upper management executives in West and Southwest Michigan. Print subscriptions are free to qualified individuals who do business in West and Southwest Michigan. For further information about MiBiz Network, visit www.mibiz.com.