Construction projects are nothing new on the campus of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and 2011 will be no exception. But one project in the works will not be an architectural gem. There will be no visual bells and whistles. It will, in fact, be pretty boring to look at. This particular project, however, will set the campus apart from any other and secure its place in history. The project is the campus’ new fuel cell, and when completed in late 2011, the 2.8-megawatt cell will be the largest on any college campus and will provide roughly 8 percent of the campus’ energy needs. The fuel cell, coupled with an energy storage system, will be used to cool campus buildings and store electricity for use during peak demand periods. UCSD’s fuel cell is the largest of three cells that will be installed in San Diego in 2011. In total, the cells will generate 4.5 megawatts of electricity. The Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant will provide the fuel cells with methane gas, a waste byproduct of the water treatment process, which will then be converted into electricity. Because methane waste is currently burned off and its waste is released into the atmosphere, the fuel cells will serve a dual purpose of both generating clean electricity and relieving the problem of biogas waste. Fuel cells generate electricity using an electrochemical process that does not involve combustion, therefore eliminating pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and particulate matter. According to FuelCell Energy, Inc., the Connecticut-based company that will manufacture the cells, the citywide project will eliminate the emission of about 68,100 pounds of pollutants annually, roughly the equivalent of removing 1,136 cars from the road. Currently, UCSD generates 85 percent of its own electricity through a 30-megawatt natural gas cogeneration plant. The plant, according to UCSD spokesman Rex Graham, operates at 66 percent efficiency, compared to about 33 percent for coal- and oil-fired power plants. That level of efficiency, Graham said, “is unheard of in the industry.” The campus’ fuel cell will cost $19 million, but will require no university funding. UCSD received $7.65 million in incentives from the California Self Generation Program, which provides rebates for energy systems such as wind turbines and fuel cells. BioFuels Energy, LLC, a company based in Encinitas, provided the remaining $11.35 million through private investments, loans and investment tax credits. The fuel cell was made possible by an order of the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC), which approved a measure designed to lower peak demands on the state’s electrical power grid. The generation and storage of its own power will make the university eligible for $3.4 million in financial incentives. “The university’s increasingly sophisticated microgrid will integrate all the campus’ production, consumption and stored power and cooling water into one of the most sophisticated energy-management systems anywhere,” said John Dilliott, UCSD’s energy and utilities manager, in a recent statement. “We will soon be able to factor in the variable cost of imported electricity and optimize the production and consumption of electricity in our entire system with a high degree of cost and energy efficiency.”