It's the sound of the future of energy generation.

Inside the "magic box," 11.4 standard cubic feet per minute of natural gas flowed into the molten carbonate, high-temperature fuel cell produced by Fuel Cell Energy of Danbury, Conn. That cell produced a lot of electricity but almost no air pollution.

Under a cloudless sky earlier this week, the electrical output of the solar cells on the roof of the Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center combined with the fuel cell provided all of the electricity needed to run the 20,000-square-foot center.

And then some.

Another 12 kilowatts of power was kicking out of the building's state-of-the-art energy system onto the electrical grid through Consumers Energy, enough to light a good-sized home. Backing up the energy system is a bank of high-tech batteries.

For energy center director Imad Mahawili, his Systems Engineering Manager George Cutro and technician Dave Potter, there was a sense of a difficult job well done. But as the cutting-edge energy systems began full operations in the past weeks, the center's staff turned their attention to making them all work together at optimum efficiency.

"We're being born here at MAREC," Mahawili said. "This is exciting. It's unbelievable what we have done in the past three months."

The technologies that GVSU have installed into the energy center allow researchers and students to work with what many predict will be the energy plant of the future. Instead of having huge coal-fired power plants like the nearby B.C. Cobb plant of Consumers Energy, experts believe electrical generation in the future will be decentralized with smaller, more efficient and environmentally friendly equipment.

A formal dedication of the energy center is planned for Thursday by the GVSU Board of Trustees at an invitation-only event. GVSU received a $3 million grant for alternative energy technology from the Michigan Public Service Commission as part of the $7 million energy center development at Edison Landing in the Muskegon Lakeshore SmartZone on Muskegon Lake.

The energy center paid $1.3 million for the fuel cell, $230,000 for the solar panels and $260,000 for the batteries. The university also had to purchase the control systems, wiring and inverters to take the direct current produced by the fuel cell, solar panels and batteries to alternating current needed in a modern office building.

The first job was to install and test the operation of the the energy center's three technologies -- the fuel cell, solar panels and nickel hydride storage batteries.

The fuel cell is a 250-kilowatt unit that is being run right now at a portion of its potential. It was turned on two weeks ago and allowed to slowly advance to operating conditions in terms of internal heat and electrical output.

Stationary fuel cells operate best over long continuous runs, Mahawili said. This unit, which operates with an internal temperature of 1,010 degrees, uses a heat exchanger to produce 189-degree water that heats the building.

The fuel cell itself uses 15 kilowatts of power of the current 65 kilowatts of electricity being generated. The remaining 45 kilowatts is going to power the energy center building, which needs about 70 kilowatts on a typical day.

The solar cells are made by Unisolar located in Southeast Michigan. They cover about 10,000 square feet of the barreled roof of the energy center built by Workstage -- a Steelcase Inc. joint venture -- can provide up to 27 kilowatts of power on a sunny day. On cloudy days, the output drops to 3 kilowatts and the energy center must import power from Consumers Energy.

"The solar panels are so pleasant and it was good to see that they even work (to some extent) on cloudy days," Mahawili said.

The third energy-producing item is the stacks of storage batteries, the first commercial installation of technology by Cobasys, a joint venture between Texaco/Chevron and ECD. When fully charged, the NiGEN system (cell stacks) can produce 80 kilowatts.

If the electricity from the fuel cell and solar cells was turned off and Consumers Energy had a power failure, the battery system could operate the building for an hour, Mahawili said. During a typical day, the batteries will be used to supplement the building's needs during times of high electrical use and will be recharged during overnight hours of low energy use.

When the GVSU energy center needs power, it can draw from Consumers Energy and the state grid. However, when it produces more power than it can use, Consumers Energy purchases power from the center.

It is now the job of Cutro and Potter to design a computer control system to balance the various energy sources in the most efficient and cost-effective matter. The cost of Consumers Energy power, the rate the public utility will purchase power and the price of natural gas all needs to be calculated on a continual basis.

In the future, Mahawili said the energy center will increase the output of the fuel cell to either sell power to Consumers or power other buildings in the Edison Landing business park.

The energy center is currently the only building in the $50 million commercial and residential development.

With the completion of the eastern extension of Shoreline Drive, Edison Landing developers hope have construction begin on other lots in the business park.