WEST FARGO, N.D. (May 15, 2024) — Bobcat Company, a global equipment and worksite solutions brand, has enhanced two of its North Dakota manufacturing facilities with the installation of 14 stationary, natural gas-powered fuel cells from HyAxiom Inc., a global fuel cell and hydrogen solutions provider. These units will operate in parallel with the commercial power grid while carving a pathway to decarbonization by producing clean energy for the facilities’ operations.
The three fuel cells at the Bismarck facility and the 11 units at the Gwinner location are the first commercial installations of stationary fuel cells in the state. The recently commissioned fuel cells allow Bobcat to diversify its energy sources by supplying a majority of the annual power and heat needs of the Bismarck facility and about half the needs of the Gwinner facility.
Utilized in a wide range of applications, HyAxiom’s PureCell M400 is a proprietary phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) that can use natural gas, hydrogen, LPG or a blend of fuels to produce rapidly deployable baseload electricity and heat that are also resilient, sustainable and affordable.
While this is the first installation of fuel cells in North Dakota, HyAxiom’s fuel cells are in operation nationwide and globally, providing power and heat for commercial and industrial uses. With load-following capabilities, they have become a resilient source of energy for microgrid applications, providing the ability to switch between grid connected and grid independent modes, facilitating the ease of accessibility to reliable and clean electricity.
In Bismarck, Bobcat is able to provide power back to the grid as a registered power producer. This reduces the demand on Bismarck energy providers and ensures there is enough power on the grid. Thanks to the usable heat produced by the fuel cells, Bobcat has also been able to reduce its overall energy use by eliminating two boilers previously required to produce heat on its paint line.
The project is owned and operated by DESA Service LLC, a subsidiary of Doosan Energy Solutions America Inc.
Visit bobcat.com and hyaxiom.com.
