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Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Economy Center of Economic Excellence
Inception: About the Center: The Center in Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Economy is part of University of South Carolina’s (USC) larger Future Fuels™ Initiative, which is expanding the school’s expertise in fuel cells and alternative energy. This Center will conduct research to develop hydrogen storage materials and sensors for fuel cells. Fuel cells produce electricity from hydrogen and hydrogen-rich carbon fuels without thermal combustion and are more efficient for power generation than existing coal and natural gas technology.
One startup company has been created through associated work of the Center: Hydrogen Hybrid Mobility. To date, this Center has received more than $5 million in private and federal research funding.
Along with other components of the Future Fuels™ Initiative, the Hydrogen Fuel Cells Center will be housed in the Horizon Center, a $55 million public-private facility at USC Innovista. The chairs for these Centers will work with public and private sector alliances such as the South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance and the Greater Columbia Fuel Cell Collaborative. USC presently has the nation’s only National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) for Fuel Cells, which was renewed in 2009 for five years. As a part of this renewal, the I/UCRC has become a multi-university endeavor with the addition of the University of Connecticut and five member companies: IBM, Fuel Cell Energy, Northeast Utilities Foundation, Siemens and D‐Star Engineering. These Centers have international collaborations with the Korea Institute of Energy Research and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy in Germany. To learn more about Centers of Economic Excellence fuel cell research at USC, click here. Funding level: SmartState Endowed Chairs:
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Dr. John Weidner, USC professor and associate chair of chemical engineering,
tests a fuel cell in the Swearingen Engineering Center.
