When a utility grid is down, every second counts. At substations with fuel cell backup systems, grid engineers can restore electrical service during a blackout much faster than those relying on traditional diesel generators without the noise and pollution that comes with traditional fossil fuel backup power options. The business case for system-wide deployment of fuel cell-powered substation backup systems makes for a compelling argument, and the enterprises at the cutting edge of this innovative infrastructural technology are working to educate utility executives, managers, engineers, and consultants about the beneficial impacts fuel cells can have on transmission reliability.

The energy sector is rife with innovation. Newly-developed fuel cell technologies allow utilities to restore power faster in the event of a blackout. This is possible because private companies have developed utility-scaled backup power infrastructure for installation at substations. The professionals responsible for ensuring the reliability of our electrical grid are facing growing challenges, but cutting-edge fuel cell technology offers a clean, efficient, and cost-effective solution to the increasing constraints on our electrical transmission infrastructure.

Grid Reliability Is Critical

Electrical grids are some of the largest machines in the world. They are massive networks of electrical generation, transmission, and distribution systems that stretch from continent to continent light people’s homes, power their businesses, and provide the basic infrastructure they need to carry. The electrical grid is something that we all rely on nearly every minute of the day, and as a result it must be designed for reliable service. And, as a result, ensuring critical grid reliability requires utility professionals to install backup power sources.

Between widespread deployment of distributed generation and growing demand for electricity, it’s becoming harder and harder to ensure reliability of our electrical grids. And of course, reliability is only one of the many critical factors utility managers and energy consultants must consider. The operation of our electrical grid impacts our natural environment, public safety and social infrastructure, and the quality of daily life for billions of people around the world.

Utilities Face Increasing Challenges to Sustaining Transmission Infrastructure

The deployment of renewable energy solutions and other forms of distributed energy have created new opportunities for critical economic, infrastructural, and environmental developments in America’s energy infrastructure. However, taken along with our ever-increasing demand for power, the ongoing changes in America’s energy infrastructure are posing real challenges to utility professionals working to maintain our grid.

Utilities are facing growing constraints on transmission infrastructure, but fortunately the American energy regulatory structure encourages the integration of private-sector solutions in our critical public infrastructure. Working hand-in-hand with private enterprises, utilities are finding technological solutions to some of the most complex and pressing challenges affecting our energy infrastructure.

Technology Offers Solutions to Infrastructural Challenges

Private companies are working with utilities to deploy fuel cell backup systems that offer effective solutions for boosting grid reliability and greening the environmental footprint of our energy infrastructure. In the past, utilities have been forced to rely on portable diesel generators to restart grid operations following a major blackout. This technology is not only costly and burdensome to deploy, it’s also noisy and terrible for the environment.

As our utilities work to manage the growing burdens on our transmission infrastructure, they are working to find clean and cost-effective ways to boost reliability. While it may require a substantial investment upfront, the long-term reductions in costs and environmental impacts that are possible with fuel cell technology are meaningful. When properly designed and integrated into a utility’s electrical grid, fuel cell backup systems offer superior safety, reliability, and efficiency than generators powered by fossil fuels. And with advanced remote management and enterprise software integrated into these advanced systems, many fuel cell backup installations offer far greater functionality than the existing standard technology.

The tech industry is not without its problems. It centralizes wealth within the social elite and discriminates against women and minorities in a manner that’s just outright shameful. But we can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and the deployment of technology is often an effective way to address our social, economic, and infrastructural problems. Fuel cells represent just the type of solution utilities need to upgrade our aging energy infrastructure, and they’re yet another example of how technology can be used to improve all our lives.