FuelCell Energy, Inc. (NasdaqNM:FCEL) has announced that Tokyo Gas has initiated a program to evaluate a Direct FuelCell (DFC) power plant for introducing these units to customers of its energy and industrial gas divisions.
The unit is currently located at Kawasaki Heavy Industries’ factory in Akashi, Japan, where Tokyo Gas will evaluate the power plant under a variety of expected operating conditions focusing particularly on grid interconnection performance. Tokyo Gas has agreed to install this DFC300A power plant at its new R&D center in Tsurumi in the second quarter of 2006.
Tokyo Gas is one of Japan’s largest installers of natural gas-fueled distributed generation systems for high efficiency, combined heat and power applications. According to its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report, installation of natural gas cogeneration systems has grown to 1196 MW from 765 MW during the past five years, an increase of 44 percent. This trend is expected to continue in the years ahead. Tokyo Gas is considering adding DFC products to its energy generation portfolio, pending the outcome of its evaluation, to address additions to the current 2.2 GW of gas-fired cogeneration at 2000 locations throughout the country.
“Tokyo Gas is the largest gas supplier in Japan,” said R. Daniel Brdar, president and CEO of FuelCell Energy. “They are actively extending their pipelines to industrial gas users and expanding the country’s infrastructure. Our ability to use this strategically important fuel source in high efficiency distributed generation for firm and reliable base load power applications represent a strong potential market for our megawatt-class products.”
DFC power plants address two significant energy issues in Japan — high energy costs and reduced greenhouse gas emissions under rules established by the Kyoto Protocols. The high efficiency of DFC power plants not only results in less fuel needed per kilowatt hour of electricity and lower operating costs, but reduced amounts of carbon dioxide. In addition, DFC power plants provide greater energy reliability because they are located directly at customer sites.
Loading...