Mar 15 2010
Altergy Systems, announced today that its Freedom Power™ Systems turned the red carpet "green" at Sunday's 82nd annual Oscars® by supplying the first clean hydrogen fuel cell power systems used to power numerous applications at the Academy Awards® ceremonies.
Altergy's Freedom Power™ Systems provided clean "off the grid," electricity to fulfill various power requirements at the Oscars® red carpet ceremony. Additionally, another Altergy 5kW fuel cell was used as the power source of a unique new portable lighting system which was also employed throughout the week for specific lighting demands at Hollywood's biggest awards ceremony.
Saunders Electric of Los Angeles has provided power for every Oscar® presentation since 1953. They specialize in supplying the challenging power needs of the motion picture and television industry with clients that include the Grammy Awards®, the Country Music Awards®, and the Emmy Awards®. Saunders Electric, who also received its own Technical Emmy® in 1995, chose Altergy's Freedom Power™ fuel cells for specific uses at the Oscars® this year.
CEO Russell Saunders says: "We have been looking for a dependable clean power system to use at the Academy Awards® and in the entire motion picture industry for years. We needed a power system that was portable, efficient, and quiet that could literally be placed at the point of use without emitting the noxious fumes and noise of standard power generators such as diesels. We chose Altergy's clean 'zero emission' fuel cell systems ... and we're glad we did. They performed beautifully!"
Academy (A.M.P.A.S.®) technician, Gary Lenz, who worked directly with the mobile lighting system throughout the production was asked to give it a Hollywood review. He emphatically replied: "Awesome! It's the coolest thing ever! It's unbelievably quiet and we were even able to use the clean warm air it generated to stay warm on the cold nights!"
Altergy joined with Sandia National Laboratories, The Boeing Company, Caltrans and manufacturers Multiquip, Luxim, Lumenworks, Stray Light and others in developing and introducing the new fuel cell powered mobile lighting system. Additionally Alpha Technologies of Bellingham, WA provided the DC to AC inverters used in the systems.
The new high intensity plasma lighting system utilizes Altergy's Freedom Power™ hydrogen fuel cells to power the lights. Each self-contained unit has the ability to illuminate an area approximately the size of a football field, and has a projected continuous run time of 40 plus hours.
The new Freedom Power™ mobile lighting system is both environmentally friendly and "whisper" quiet. Unlike the diesel generators now in use, the new fuel cell lighting system is a California Air Resources Board (C.A.R.B.) certified "zero-emission" power generator.
"This application demonstrates the versatility of Altergy's fuel cell systems. They have been dominating telecom applications over the last couple of years and now we are deploying them in distributed peak shaving, mobile and prime power applications. We are very proud of our involvement with the Academy®, and consider it an honor to be selected," commented Eric Mettler, Altergy's President and CEO.
Source: http://www.altergy.com