Peoples Gas, WATT Fuel Cell Corporation install first fuel cell at Westmoreland County residence

Peoples Gas, in partnership with WATT Fuel Cell Corporation, installed last week the first Imperium Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) system at a residence in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, as part of the first field trial of a WATT fuel cell system by Peoples Gas.

Earlier this year, Peoples entered into a Joint Development and Commercialization Agreement with WATT Fuel Cell. The company aims to install a fuel cell in every residence in Peoples’ service territory.

“With the first installations of the WATT fuel cells into homes becoming a reality, we can see the power of combining the best of our innovation and technology with the rich and plentiful natural resource that sits here in Western Pennsylvania,” Morgan O’Brien, president and CEO of Peoples, said. “We are one step closer to having this clean, inexpensive and reliable source of energy available to every family here in the region in a way that will be incredibly responsible to our environment for generations to come.”

The residential Imperium SOFC System converts natural gas through an electrochemical reaction to electricity, with little to zero emissions. It works in parallel with the electric grid and other renewable resources such as solar to generate power on-site as needed.

“When we moved to Western Pennsylvania we didn’t realize we were moving into the backyard of one of the country’s more forward-thinking energy companies,” Caine Finnerty, president and COO of WATT Fuel Cell, said. “Working with Peoples has allowed us to accelerate our entrance into the residential market. What better place to do that than right here in our own region with one of the region’s leading energy companies. And, with one of the world’s largest natural gas shales right here, Pennsylvania couldn’t be a more perfect place to launch our residential product.”