FuelCell Energy Inc. (NasdaqNM:FCEL) announced that one of its 250-kilowatt Direct FuelCell (DFC) power plants, sold by its Asian distributor Marubeni Corporation (TSE:8002 – News), will supply power as part of the electric grid servicing a school, a hospital, apartment buildings and city hall in a planned, renewable energy community on the western coast of Japan. In keeping with the Kyoto Eco-Energy organization’s desire to balance intermittent power generated by sources such as wind and solar, a 250 kilowatt DFC plant will convert waste from a food processing plant into high quality electricity. Heat energy produced by the power plant also will be used to warm water flowing into the food waste digestion process, thus increasing overall system efficiency.
Kyotango City’s DFC power plant is part of an 850-kilowatt mini-grid consisting of the fuel cell unit, a wind turbine, photovoltaics and gas engines connected in parallel to the local electrical grid. Acknowledging the environmental advantages of the project, Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) is supporting the capital and installation cost.
“The Eco-Energy Project is ideal for a DFC power generation plant,” said Marc G. Aube, Marubeni Vice President. “Its ultra-clean, highly efficient generation process provides a breakthrough means to enable Japan’s earth-minded municipalities and industry to deploy and stabilize the renewable energy solutions that help parties comply with the Kyoto Protocol.”
“There is a great deal of excitement in Japan over the use of fuel cells to generate power on a community-wide scale,” said Herbert T. Nock, FuelCell Energy’s Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales. “In Japan and other Asian and European nations that are attempting to reduce emissions in accordance with the requirements of the Kyoto Protocols, this energy site represents an important double-win for us. It replicates our success in providing power in renewable waste treatment facilities and it goes further in demonstrating the feasibility of tying DFC technology into the grid, as we have previously accomplished in industrial settings.”
Direct FuelCells generate electricity without combustion. As long as fuel is supplied, they operate continuously to produce power through highly efficient electrochemical reactions. Since fuel is not burned, none of the pollution commonly associated with burning fossil fuels occurs.
Shipment of the DFC unit is expected to take place in the third calendar quarter of 2005.
The Eco-Energy project was launched in 2003 in Japan’s Kyoto Prefecture to demonstrate how renewable energy systems can be employed to provide stable power supplies in community settings. It combines the intermittent power from solar and wind sources with biomass energy and fuel cells, which produce electricity on a controllable yet ultra-clean basis. About Marubeni
The Marubeni Corporation (www.marubeni.co.jp/english/index.html), established in 1858, is one of Japan’s leading general trading/marketing houses (sogo shosha). The Company was ranked as the 25th largest in Fortune Magazine’s Global Fortune 500 list for 2002. Marubeni has 12 Divisions with operations that encompass domestic, import/export, offshore trade and investment activities, which range from the development of natural resources to the retail marketing of finished products.
FuelCell Energy, Inc., based in Danbury, Conn., is a world leader in the development and manufacture of high temperature fuel cells for clean electric power generation. The company has developed commercial distribution alliances for its carbonate Direct FuelCell products with world class companies such as PPL Energy Plus, Caterpillar, Alliance Power, Chevron Energy Solutions and LOGANEnergy in the U.S.; Marubeni Corporation in Asia; MTU CFC Solutions in Europe; and Enbridge Inc. in Canada. FuelCell Energy developed its patented Direct FuelCell technology for stationary power plants with the U.S. Department of Energy through its Office of Fossil Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory.
The sub-megawatt DFC fuel cell power plant is a collaborative effort using Direct FuelCell technology of FuelCell Energy and the Hot Module balance of plant design of MTU CFC Solutions, GmbH, a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler. FuelCell Energy is also developing next generation high temperature fuel cell products, such as a diesel fueled marine Ship Service Fuel Cell, a combined-cycle DFC/Turbine power plant and solid oxide fuel cells through its investment in and partnership with Versa Power Systems for applications up to 100 kilowatts.
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