Development of a Performance Rating Standard for Residential Fuel Cell Systems

Fuel cell systems for residential applications are an emerging technology for which specific consumer-oriented performance standards are not well defined. This paper presents a proposed experimental procedure and rating methodology for evaluating residential fuel cell systems. In the proposed procedure, residential applications are classified as grid independent load following; grid connected constant power; grid connected thermal load following; and grid connected water heating. An experimental apparatus and procedures for steady state and simulated use tests are described for each type of system. A rating methodology is presented that uses data from these experiments in conjunction with standard residential load profiles to quantify the net effect of a fuel cell system on residential utility use. The experiments and rating procedure are illustrated using data obtained from a currently available grid connected thermally load following system.