8:30 – 9:30

Fuel Cell Basics and the DoD Fuel Cell Projects

Nicholas M. Josefik, EIT

Industrial Engineer

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

ABSTRACT:

Fuel Cell Tutorial

Fuel cells are electrochemical power generators with the potential for attaining very high electrical energy conversion efficiencies while operating quietly with minimal polluting emissions.  In addition, by-product thermal energy generated in the fuel cell is available for use for cogeneration of hot water or steam.  Fuel cells are commonly named after the electrolyte used in the system.   The most common fuel cell types are Phosphoric Acid, Molten Carbonate, Solid Oxide, Proton Exchange Membrane, and Alkaline fuel cells.  The properties of the five main types of fuel cells will be covered in the presentation.  Simplified fuel cell diagrams will be used to explain the inner workings of the fuel cell system, which consist of three main subsystems the fuel processor, power production, and the power conditioner.

PAFC Demonstration

From 1995 to 1997, U.S. Army ERDC-CERL managed the installation of 30 200-kW Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cells at military installations throughout the United States.  These fuel cells were operated and monitored over a 5-year demonstration period.  Lessons learned from this program have led to numerous product improvements making the current model a highly reliable unit.

Climate Change Fuel Cell Program

U.S. Army ERDC-CERL also manages the Climate Change Fuel Cell Program.  This program, initiated in FY 1995, provides a $1000/kW rebate to purchasers of fuel cells.  Rebate awardees are required to provide reports documenting the performance of their fuel cells over a 1-year operating period.  Well over 100 awards have been made for fuel cell demonstrations throughout the world. 

PEM Demonstration

U.S. Army ERDC-CERL initiated a Residential Scale Proton Exchange Membrane Demonstration Program in FY 2001.  To date, over $6,000,000 has been awarded for projects totaling 45 fuel cells.  This program requires operation of the fuel cells for a one-year period at a minimum average availability of 90%.  Performance data to date have demonstrated stack life hours in excess of 7,000 hours, and availabilities in excess of 98%.

 

Fuel Cell Test & Evaluation Center (FCTec)

USA ERDC-CERL also established the DoD Fuel Cell Test & Evaluation Center (FCTec) as a National Resource facility for the independent, unbiased testing and validation of fuel cell systems for both military and commercial applications. FCTec is located in Johnstown PA, and is operated by Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC). 

 

Additional information on all of the DoD Stationary Fuel Cell Demonstration Programs is available at the following website address:

http://www.dodfuelcell.com.

 

BIOGRAPHY:   Nicholas M. Josefik is an Industrial Engineer working for U. S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Energy Branch of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC/CERL), located in Champaign IL. Nicholas graduated from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana in 2001 with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and has been working on the DoD Fuel Cell Demonstration Project since 2000. Nicholas has worked on data collection and analysis of 31 Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cells and over 50 Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells at various military installations.  Nicholas has also helped manage the Climate Change Fuel Cell Program.

 

 

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9:45 – 10:45

Broadband Over Power Lines and Radio Communications

Jim Haynie

President

American Radio Relay League

 

ABSTRACT:  Jim Haynie will address the operation of Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) systems and BPL’s impact on the operation of radios and the use of public safety channels.

 

BIOGRAPHY:  Jim Haynie is President of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the national association for Amateur Radio. As President, Haynie is the official spokesman of the ARRL Board of Directors in regard to matters of League Policy. He also represents the League in its relationship with the public, various governments, governmental agencies and officials with which the League may be concerned. The League's President serves as an unpaid volunteer. In January 2004, the ARRL Board reelected Haynie to his third term as the League's 13th President.

 

Haynie began his service to the Board in 1987 as West Gulf Division Director. Three years later the ARRL Board elected him Vice President, and he served in that capacity for two years. In 1997, Haynie rejoined the Board, again as Director of the League's West Gulf Division, and held that position until he was elected President in 2000.

 

Haynie's lifelong interest in ham radio was sparked as a teenager, when his father gave him a Hallicrafters SX-88 receiver for his birthday. He was first licensed in 1973, as WN5JBP. Defining Amateur Radio's role in homeland security has been one of Hanyie's top initiatives. In June of 2003, he signed a formal Statement of Affiliation between the Department of Homeland Security and ARRL. Later that year, he served on a panel of national Citizen Corps affiliates during a Volunteers in Homeland Security Conference. He's also taken part in several meetings with representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA).

 

Emergency and disaster communications have been a longtime interest for Haynie. Over the years, he has been involved in ham radio communications efforts during earthquakes in Guatemala and Mexico City, a tornado in Wichita Falls, Texas, and a Delta Air Lines crash at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

 

Bringing young people into ham radio is another passion for Haynie, and he was instrumental in establishing the ARRL Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program, popularly known as "The Big Project." The educational initiative was guided by the success of a ham radio program at DeGoyler Elementary School in Dallas, the program's first "pilot school."

 

A native Texan, Haynie and his wife Suzette live in Dallas. They have two sons and seven grandchildren. As a small business entrepreneur, he formed the Jim Haynie Company in 1984, specializing in metal and fabrication sales. From 1963 to 1968, Haynie served in the United States Army.

 

Outside of ham radio, he enjoys competitive skeet shooting and traveling with his wife.

 

 

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11:00 – 12:00

Ethics Training for Professional Engineers

Gus Khankarli, P.E., PMP

Design Manager, Collin County

Texas Dept. of Transportation

 

ABSTRACT:  Gus Khankarli, PE, PMP will provide one hour of ethics training that is required on an annual basis for all Professional Engineers registered in the State of Texas.  Some of the topics he will discuss include the definition of ethics, corruption, fraud, professional behavior, the Texas PE Board code of professional conduct, legal consequences, case studies, and other topics of interest.

 

BIOGRAPHY:  Gus Khankarli, PE, PMP is a Design Transportation Manager and management professional with more than 15 years of experience in this arena.  He has played pivotal roles in the development, integration and expansion of business strategies with regard to operating in a high-risk, complex environment overseas.  He has strengths envisioning business goals and possesses the business acumen to translate these goals into powerful strategic initiatives.  In his current role, Mr. Khankarli has been accountable for reviewing and implementing policies that require managing multiple projects, rectifying current transportation related structural problems in the Dallas Area in addition to reviewing vendors and Contractors submitted drawings.  His project management experience spans; Government, Consultants, Construction, Maintenance, distribution and retail firms. 

 

Mr. Khankarli has delivered training classes with the Texas Department of Transportation, at UT Arlington and overseas at Kuwait University on the topics of Metrication, Project Management, Organizational behavior and Civil Engineering Maintenance. 

Mr. Khankarli has a BSCE and MECE from UT Arlington and an MBA from UD and received his project management professional certification from the Project Management Institute in 2002.  Mr. Khankarli is a licensed Engineer in the State of Texas.

 

 

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1:30 – 3:15

Electric Transmission and the Proposed Nodal Market

Beth Garza

Manager, Congestion Analyst

Electric Reliability Council of Texas

 

ABSTRACT:  Ms. Garza will describe recently completed and proposed transmission and generation additions in the ERCOT region, focusing on those projects of interest to those in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.   She will also provide the current status of the proposed conversion of ERCOT from a zonal to a nodal market.

 

BIOGRAPHY:  Ms. Garza is employed by ERCOT as the Manager of Congestion Analysis.  This is a recently created area in ERCOT Operations focused on improving ERCOT’s congestion management practices and communications.

 

Until August 2004, Ms. Garza was employed by FPL Energy as a Director of Market Affairs, focused on electric utility market and regulatory issues in Texas.  FPL Energy operates two natural gas combined cycle plants totaling 2800 MW of capacity. In addition, FPL Energy is the largest owner and operator of wind generation in Texas, with more than 600 MW operating in west Texas.

 

Prior to joining FPL Energy in 1999, Ms. Garza spent a year with Covington Consulting assisting multiple municipal utilities in ERCOT with planning and industry restructuring issues.  Prior to that she was with the City of Austin’s electric utility for thirteen years where she held a variety of planning and operations roles, including 2 years as the Manager of System Operations, with responsibility for generation dispatch, off system purchases and sales, outage restoration, and system protection.  Her last position at the City of Austin was the Manager of System Planning, where she was responsible for Generation Planning / Resource Acquisition and Transmission / Distribution Planning.  Ms. Garza began her career with Florida Power & Light, the largest investor owned electric utility in Florida based in Miami, Florida, in the Generation Planning group.

 

Ms. Garza has a BS degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Missouri and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.  She lives with her husband and two sons in the Austin area.

 

 

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3:30 – 4:45

Texas: Boom Times for Wind Generation

Henry Durrwachter

Senior Project Manager

TXU Energy

 

ABSTRACT:  Texas, with a Renewable Portfolio Standard (“RPS”) put in place beginning in 2002, has seen a boom in the development of wind resources.  The RPS, enacted in 1999, requires installation of 2,000 megawatts (“MW”) of new renewable resources in Texas by January 1, 2009.  Texas has seen an enthusiastic market response resulting in installation of over 1,300 MW of new wind-powered generation by the end of 2004 (65% of the mandate in the first 3 years of the program).  The tradeable Renewable Energy Credit (“REC”), which represents 1 MWh of renewable energy, serves as a mechanism for retailer electricity providers (“REPs”) to meet their mandated portion of the RPS.  A vibrant market for RECs has emerged with the value of a REC ranging from $4 to $15 and trade volumes in excess of 300,000 RECs annually.  Wind has been the renewable technology of choice in Texas because it is plentiful and relatively cheap.  Texas is second only to California in terms of the amount of installed wind generation capacity in the United States and second only to North Dakota in terms of wind energy potential.  The primary issue related to the continued development of renewable resources in Texas is transmission congestion.  The problem stems from the short lead-time required to construct a windfarm (12-18 months) versus the long-lead time to design, certificate and construct a new transmission line in Texas (3-5 years).  The Texas RPS has been an unqualified success, both in terms of utilizing the state’s vast potential renewable resources and in terms of providing customers with a clean, economic source of energy.  And the “boom times” are likely to continue because the Texas Legislature, currently in session, is considering new legislation that will significantly increase the RPS (from 2,000 MW by 2009 to either 5,000 MW by 2015 or 7,000 MW by 2017).

 

BIOGRAPHY:  Henry Durr­wachter has a BSEE degree from the University of Texas at Arlington and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.  He has worked for TXU in both staff and management roles for over 32 years in engineering, regulatory, customer service, and resource planning.  His is currently Senior Project Manager at TXU Energy, working to develop appropriate market rules for the competitive Texas electricity market.  He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and currently serves as President of the Board of Directors of the Utility Wind Interest Group (UWIG).