In a lot just west of the clinic's main hospital building in downtown Billings, clinic officials dedicated a new fuel cell power plant that will generate ultraclean, less costly electricity for the hospital.

The one-year demonstration project is not only good for the environment, but also should help reduce health care costs, said Jim Duncan, director of development and community affairs for Billings Clinic.

"We really have to tackle (cost containment) from every possible angle, whether it be medical liability insurance or energy efficiency," he said.

Also on hand was U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., who helped secure funding for the project through the Department of Energy.

"We can find ways to develop energy and lower health care costs," Burns told a small crowd gathered for a ceremony in front of the barely audible power plant. "I know what the impact is going to be ... and it's all positive."

The fuel cell plant, which runs on natural gas, was developed by FuelCell Energy of Danbury, Conn.

It's the company's first fuel cell plant in the nation being used to provide on-going power to a hospital and the only fuel cell plant operating in Montana.

FuelCell has been working on the project since 2002, with help from the Energy Department.

"Without (Sen. Burns') help, the funding from the department wouldn't have been possible, and without the funding, the project wouldn't have been possible," said Steve Eschbach, director of investor relations for FuelCell.

The fuel cell plant, no more than 60 feet long and about 15 feet high, burns natural gas to create electricity and uses heat created by the process to power a turbine, generating additional electricity.

Eschbach said the self-contained plant virtually eliminates power-generation emissions such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, and greatly reduces carbon dioxide emissions.

Duncan said the fuel cell plant will help reduce energy costs for the clinic, which, like other businesses, has seen a stiff increase in heating and power costs in the past five years.

The clinic spent $600,000 on natural gas and $1.1 million on electricity in 2001; those amounts will be about $825,000 and $1.5 million this year, he said.

FuelCell has helped install another fuel cell unit in Montana at Zoot Enterprises near Bozeman, but Zoot later sued FuelCell and PPL Montana, saying the unit didn't operate as promised. Eschbach declined to comment on that unit's status, citing the ongoing litigation.