Bend-based hydrogen fuel cell maker IdaTech LLC took a major step forward in promoting commercial usage of its products last week, but said residential uses may be further away from reality than initially thought.

The company said March 21 that it has reached an agreement with Boise, Idaho-based industrial goods supplier Norco to supply IdaTech's future customers with hydrogen.

IdaTech's commercial fuel cells, currently awaiting certification in the United States, use hydrogen to generate power. IdaTech markets its fuel cells as backup power sources for telecommunications devices like cell phone transmission towers in remote areas.

About 80 percent of its current customers are in Europe.

Fuel cells use chemical reactions to produce electricity from hydrogen. The only by-product of power produced by hydrogen fuel cells is water.

Power generators using fuel cell technology can be as small as a suitcase and as big as a standard refrigerator.

Hal Koyama, IdaTech's senior vice president of sales and marketing, said the agreement ensures that companies purchasing IdaTech fuel cells won't have to worry about their cells' hydrogen supply.

"What we want is to have the infrastructure ready for all the fuel cells we deploy," Koyama said, adding that IdaTech also has a hydrogen supplier's agreement with industrial gas supplier Airgas Inc.

The Norco and Airgas deals, Koyama said, would cover IdaTech generators throughout the country.

"(Our clients in) the United States are well covered," he said.

But IdaTech officials added that the use of hydrogen fuel cells to power homes and vehicles, highly touted by industry experts a few years ago, may still be a decade away.

"Residential use is where a lot of promises were made a couple of years ago by fuel cell companies," said Tucker Ruberti, IdaTech market development manager. "But as time went on, companies found that the costs were dropping slower than what the market needs."

Ruberti made the comments at a renewable energy summit in Bend last week. He said the current cost of fuel cell power is about $3,000 per kilowatt, down dramatically from $10,000 per kilowatt only a few years ago, but still not low enough for some uses.

"To get to the point of residential application, we need to get to about $2,000-$1,500 per kilowatt," Ruberti said. "(And) in our opinion, fuel cell-driven cars are well past 2020; it's not happening in the near term."

Ruberti estimated that hydrogen fuel cell cars need to have energy costs as low as $500 per kilowatt.

But both Ruberti and Koyama said commercial usage of fuel cells looks promising, especially with the new supplier's agreement with Norco. It calls for Norco to deliver hydrogen to the site of the fuel cells.

With IdaTech's key customers being telecommunication firms looking for backup power sources for transmission points that are often remotely located, the supply agreement can ensure generators at those locations will have fuel to function.

Koyama said IdaTech's focus on the telecom industry results from the sector's willingness to pay higher energy costs.

"The biggest barrier (to the acceptance of fuel cells) is cost," he said. "As cost decreases, many more markets will open up; but we'll deal with these markets one at a time as we go down the cost curve."

One local renewable energy advocate said she isn't surprised that fuel cells aren't cheap enough for residential uses yet, but she isn't worried.

"Even if fuel cell technology never makes it down to the residential level, it would still be a big change if we can shift some major commercial power usage to fuel cells," said Cylvia Hayes, executive director at Bend-based 3EStrategies, a renewable energy advocacy group. The group hosted last week's energy summit along with the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council.

Hayes added that there are plenty of currently available technologies - such as solar water heating and heat-preserving building materials - that could supply renewable power for residential uses.

"I'm hopeful that hydrogen systems will be able to be part of our home energy solutions in the future," she said. "But, from the sheer time-urgency point-of-view, we need to take advantage of technology that we already know."

IdaTech's Ruberti said he is confident that hydrogen fuel cells will make an impact in homes eventually.

"Cost is high because volume is low," he said. "And volume is low because costs are high. But we're still a young industry, and we're going to get there."