Loan earmarked for hydrogen lab

AIKEN - The Aiken Electric Cooperative Inc. announced Wednesday that it is providing a low-interest $380,000 loan to Aiken County to help build a $9.2 million hydrogen-research laboratory.

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In addition to the loan, the county is using a $7.8 million bond and a $1 million grant from the Savannah River Site Redevelopment Authority to build the 59,000-square-foot complex, said Muriel Carter Cooney, a spokeswoman for the utility.

She said Aiken Electric is using money from a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to provide the loan.

The cooperative plans to apply an interest rate comparable to the prime rate, which was 4 percent Wednesday.

Gary Stooksbury, the cooperative's CEO, said the deal "just makes sense."

"Our involvement shows the openness we have to alternative fuels and the endless possibilities for energy if this technology is perfected," he said in a statement.

At least two major car manufacturers have expressed interest in leasing space at the research center. Scientists say hydrogen could one day replace gasoline as fuel in cars.

The county plans to lease half of the building to Westinghouse Savannah River Co., which runs the Savannah River Site for the Department of Energy, for 10 years at $780,000 a year.

Between 40 and 50 hydrogen scientists from the Savannah River National Laboratory will occupy that half of the new research center. The other half will be leased to private industries interested in the possibilities of hydrogen.

Design of the facility is under way and should be complete between the fall of 2005 and early 2006.

Reach Josh Gelinas at (803) 279-6895 or josh.gelinas@augustachronicle.com.

--From the Thursday, June 10, 2004 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle