Fort Sumter may switch to solar, hydrogen fuel cell power supply

Nov 10 - The Post and Courier

When Confederate forces bombarded Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor and ignited the Civil War in April 1861, the then-three-story federal garrison used candles or oil lamps for lighting.

In 1899, the war-scarred fortress started producing its own power via an electric plant on-site.

In 1960, South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. became the primary power provider after it ran an underground power line from James Island to operate the air-conditioning and lighting systems in the fort's museum and office.

Now the national historic monument wants to cut the cord and become self-sufficient again.

A study is under way to determine if solar panels and a hydrogen fuel-cell backup power system can be installed in such a way that they will not intrude on the fort's historic integrity.

If all goes as planned, the new energy-producing systems will be in place as early as next summer, a few short months after the 150th anniversary of the structure's pivotal place in American history. The fort could even produce excess electricity to sell back to SCE&G.

"It's a first as far as we know," said Sandy Pusey, acting facility manager at Fort Sumter National Monument.

The combined technologies have been incorporated in military facilities, and solar panels have been installed in large, open National Park Service areas where they were unobtrusive, but they have never been placed on an isolated historic site where their presence has to be balanced with history, Pusey said.

The $1.4 million federally and state-funded project, which captures sunlight to power the fort and uses hydrogen fuel cells as a backup instead of the diesel-electric generator now on site, could save the National Park Service about $10,000 a year in conventional power costs and cut 86,000 kilowatt hours each year from the electric grid, or enough to power about seven homes.

"The beauty of the Fort Sumter location is that the electric power demands are not significant," said Russ Keller, vice president of the S.C. Research Authority who has been working on the project for about four years. "If you were trying to power a large building, you wouldn't have enough land space."

While energy-efficiency is part of the goal, it's not the only one.

"This is a demonstration project in a highly visible location to show the American people that this is doable," Fort Sumter Park superintendent Bob Dodson said.

Critical to the plan's success will be where the solar panels are placed.

They can't be attached to the remains of the historic structure, so officials are looking at the dock or the roof of the museum as possibilities.

"We want to make sure we can install the solar panels and hydrogen fuel cells in an appropriate way as not to interfere with the historic nature of the whole structure," Pusey said.

A feasibility study will be completed by year's end, and securing the parts and installation should be finished by early fall of 2011 at the latest.

Reach Warren Wise at 937-5524.

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