Verizon has awarded a program management contract toSyska Hennessy Group(New York) to design and build a fuel cell facility as the primary electrical power source at a major call-routing center in Garden City, NY. After obtaining local permit approvals later this year, Verizon plans to start installation of seven fuel cells manufactured by UTC Fuel Cells, a unit of United Technologies Corp. The system, which is expected to be fully operational in 2004, will operate in parallel with four new natural-gas powered engine generators, totaling more than 4 MW of generating capacity. This is the first time that a hybrid fuel cell/power generating system is being used and this facility will be the largest fuel cell deployment in the world.