FuelCell Energy, Inc. (NasdaqNM:FCEL) has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as a prime contractor of a third project team to develop a coal-based multi-megawatt solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system.
The total project award for the 10-year, three-phase Fuel Cell Coal-Based System program is approximately $85 million. The project is subject to negotiation of a final agreement.
The program’s goal is to develop a multi-megawatt SOFC power system, 100 megawatts and larger, with at least 50 percent overall efficiency in converting energy contained in coal to grid electrical power. This compares to today’s average U.S. coal-based power plant with an electrical efficiency of approximately 35 percent. Other program goals include capturing 90 percent or more of system’s carbon dioxide emissions and meeting a cost of $400 per kilowatt (exclusive of coal gasification unit and carbon dioxide separation subsystems).
“Coal technology development is a keystone of the President’s new Advanced Energy Initiative,” said Wayne Surdoval, DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory’s Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA) Technology Manager. “The clean and efficient use of coal is vital to our nation’s energy security. Research conducted under DOE’s Fuel Cell Coal-Based Systems Program should ultimately lead to fuel cell power plants that use this abundant and cost-effective resource with near-zero emissions.”
FuelCell Energy will be responsible for the overall systems development of its coal-based multi-megawatt SOFC/T power plant. Other team members include: Versa Power Systems, Inc. (Versa), providing state-of-the-art SOFC stack technology development; Gas Technology Institute (GTI), providing fuel cell pressurization tests; and Nexant, providing coal gasification expertise.
The objective of Phase I, a 3-year, $10.5 million program, is to focus on the design, cost analysis, fabrication and testing of large-scale SOFC stacks amenable for incorporation into 100-megawatt systems. Phases II and III will focus on fabricating and aggregating larger SOFC systems, as well as proof-of-concept systems to be field tested for a minimum of 25,000 hours.
FuelCell Energy joins two other project teams – one led by General Electric Hybrid Power Generation Systems and the other by Siemens Power Generation, Inc. – to leverage knowledge gained in the DOE’s Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA) Program, and extend coal-based SOFC technology to large central power generation stations.
This latest SOFC technology development program continues FuelCell Energy’s ongoing fuel cell development work with the DOE that dates back to 1976. FuelCell Energy completed an 11- year development program in 2004 for its DFC power plants that it is commercializing today, and has been a prime contractor in the SECA program since 2003. All phases of the coal-based SOFC program will be cost-shared between the DOE and the FuelCell Energy in amounts to be determined.
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