Matinicus Plantation Electric Company (MPE) has installed a supplemental hydrogen fuel system on one of the engines in the powerhouse, and a couple of island lobstermen have recently added the hydrogen generators to their marine diesel engines in hopes of reducing operating costs. So far, the results look promising.
Matinicus lobsterman Jarod Bray was at Journey’s End Marina in Rockland earlier this year when he saw Hydro-Gen, LLC company representative Jack Ferland installing a “Wildcat Hydrogen Booster” unit into another lobster boat. Ferland had an extra unit with him, and Bray had Ferland install it in his boat. Bray says the resulting savings have been noticeable, and since then, at least one other Matinicus fisherman has installed the hydrogen generator aboard his boat to supplement the diesel fuel and bring down fuel costs.
Hydro-Gen LLC offers several sizes of after-market hydrogen fuel systems; MPE spent about $1,100 for a unit appropriately sized for its primary engine, a Detroit 4-71. Every lobster boat engine in Matinicus Harbor, aside from outboards, is considerably larger than those that generate the island’s electricity; the power company’s hydrogen-generating device is the size recommended for a pickup truck. Hydrogen fuel units for workboat engines such as Bray’s are significantly larger.
The Hydro-Gen unit dissociates the hydrogen and oxygen from distilled water and the gases are injected into the air intake for the diesel engine. The company website indicates that the addition of the gas makes the fuel burn cleaner with a significant boost to engine performance; hydrogen does not become the primary fuel source but instead improves overall efficiency. The site also states that adding the supplemental hydrogen will reduce carbon emissions and extend the life of the engine’s lubricating oil. MPE doesn’t have data about that yet, but they routinely send an oil sample for laboratory testing after every 500-hour lube oil change.
The website states an 18 to 25 percent fuel savings can be expected. Lobsterman Jarod Bray reports that he is seeing a savings in fuel of between 10 and 15% on his boat. “It’s not as exciting as the numbers they give for big trucks on the company website, but it still helps. According to MPE station operator Paul Murray, “Right now, we’re getting eight percent savings on fuel, but we’re still calibrating things in hopes of doing better. We’re still working on this. We certainly won’t go behind. If the unit lasts as long as the company says it will, it will more than pay for itself. We’d like to try different alternative energy systems, but we’re not in the position to make a very large investment; we can’t spend more money than we’ll make back. This was an affordable experiment.”
Matinicus Plantation Electric Company is a municipally owned utility—not a co-op—serving approximately 125 ratepayers, many of whom are seasonal. Electricity for the island is generated using three engine and generator sets, with one or two running at a time to maximize efficiency. The engine technology involved (Detroit 71-series two-cycle diesels) comes from the days of cheap fuel; however, these old workhorse engines have the advantage of being long-lived and easily re-buildable, and the island’s power company requires no computer technology whatsoever. During the busy summer season, the power plant might put out 85 kilowatts at times; a tiny company by all accounts. The newest engine was purchased in the late 1990s. These engines generally go about 25,000 hours of actual use between rebuilds, although one ran without complete rebuild for 50,000 hours not long ago. Currently MPE burns about 40,000 gallons of fuel a year. Diesel fuel is delivered to the island in a small tanker roughly six times a year. Electricity rates vary with the price of fuel at the time of delivery, but the May 2012 electricity bill approached 70 cents per kilowatt hour.
At that rate, any hope of improving efficiency is encouraging.
Eva Murray is a freelance contributor living on Matinicus. She is married to MPE station operator Paul Murray.