From news release of November 7: FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCEL ), a leading manufacturer of efficient, ultra-clean power generation plants for commercial and industrial customers, announced today that its European partner MTU CFC Solutions GmbH, a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler, and RWE Fuel Cells have commissioned a 250-kilowatt power plant incorporating FuelCell Energy's technology to run a municipal wastewater treatment facility in northeastern Germany.
This system combines FCE's efficient and low-emission Direct Fuel Cell® (DFC®) stacks with MTU's balance of plant design that it manufactures for the European market. Situated at the Municipal Wastewater Treatment Works in Ahlen, Germany, it is the first fuel cell in Europe to operate on anaerobic digester gas.
Using sewage gas produced by the Ahlen facility itself as fuel, the power plant generates electricity to run the wastewater treatment process; any excess power is fed to the grid. The power plant also generates 180 kilowatts of heat byproduct. Ahlen harnesses this energy to operate its digestion tower (where sewage sludge is turned into the gas fuel source), while any remaining thermal energy is used to heat its office and plant buildings there.
The newly operational wastewater treatment plant, one of 10 worldwide in which FuelCell Energy products are involved replaced a combustion engine-driven cogeneration unit. Industrial and municipal wastewater treatment facilities with anaerobic gas digesters represent an important application of DFC power plants. Methane generated by anaerobic gas digestion is a renewable fuel eligible for government incentive funding for installations around the world. Because fuel in a DFC unit is not burned, it dramatically reduces harmful emissions of gas and particulates while generating firm (24/7) power on site where it is needed.
From their website: DFC fuels cells are high temperature carbonate fuel cells for base load commercial and industrial applications. DFC's can use hydrocarbon fuels without the need to first create hydrogen in an external fuel processor. The produce high value waste heat by-product for cogeneration. Their products ranging in size from 250 kW to 2 MW for a wide range of customers including hospitals, universities, hotels, utilities, and wastewater treatment facilities. Efficiency varies from about 45% for the small units to about 55% for the largest units.
From their third quarter report for the period ending July 31, 2005: Annual cost reduction of 20-25 percent on target. FuelCell Energy introduced its new 250-kW DFC power plant, the DFC300MA(TM), which reflects a 25 percent cost-reduction from approximately $8,000/kW to $6,000/kW. Through the end of the third quarter, availability of power plants in the field increased to approximately 90 percent and the Company continues to move towards its target of 95 percent.
FuelCell Energy, Inc., Danburry, CT
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