The state is closer to hosting New Hampshire firm DEKA’s test of a Stirling engine for power.
The state House of Representatives approved a bill in a voice vote Tuesday that will allow the test, following approval of a similar bill by the Senate, although the issue must first go before the Committee on Executive Departments and Administration.
Manchester-based DEKA, a research and development firm founded by inventor Dean Kamen, says it will pay for installing a Stirling engine to help provide heat and power in a building of the state’s choosing, as a demonstration of its product.
DEKA said the refrigerator-sized device, which burns natural gas, can provide 10 kilowatts of electricity and 40 kilowatts of heat. The Stirling engine is an alternative to internal-combustion engines that have shown promise for more than a century but haven’t been truly commercialized.
A couple of units have been helping power DEKA’s millyard building in Manchester since late 2013 as part of a test, and the company has several more operating in other buildings. The proposal to house one in Concord is designed to give the project a much higher profile, and supporters of the bill say it will also polish New Hampshire’s image as a home for innovation.
