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[April 2007]
Ceramic Fuel Cells Signs Product Development Agreement for German Residential CHP System
Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd (Noble Park, VIC, Australia), a world leading manufacturer of solid oxide fuel cells for micro-combined heat and power
(m-CHP) units, has announced that it has signed a new product development agreement with EWE, one of Germany's top five energy suppliers, and Bruns Heiztechnik GmbH, a specialist German boiler manufacturer.The project partners will design and develop a fully integrated m-CHP unit for the German residential market. CFCL received an initial order for its field trial demonstration units from EWE in July 2005. At that time CFCL and EWE also signed a letter of intent to commercialise fuel cell based m-CHP units. In June 2006, CFCL received a second order from EWE, for 10 NetGen™ prototype units, as part of an ongoing field trial programme.
Under the terms of the new product development agreement, CFCL will collaborate with Bruns to design and construct 1kW m-CHP units to meet EWE's specifications for the German market. The first stage of the project is to design and operate an 'Alpha' unit, whereby a CFCL NetGen unit, a Bruns high efficiency condensing boiler and a thermal store will be integrated and operated via a single control unit. Work on this stage has begun and is expected to be completed in 2007.
The second stage is to create a near-commercial 'Beta' unit, comprising a single physical unit in which a CFCL fuel cell module is fully integrated with a Bruns boiler, without the thermal store. EWE's participation in this project ensures the development of a customer oriented and economically viable Beta product.
Brendan Dow, Managing Director of CFCL, commented: “Today's agreement highlights the growing demand for more efficient power and heating systems and represents a further step towards commercialisation of our fuel cell technology. This is another example of our commercialisation model of working with utilities and appliance partners to develop and deploy our systems. We very much look forward to collaborating with EWE and Bruns to produce a commercial-ready product for the German market. It is another important step in our strong relationship with EWE”.
With regard to this, Heinrich Bruns junior, Managing Director of Bruns,
says: “For almost 50 years now Bruns has been successfully producing heating appliances. Bruns has had a substantial influence on significant ecological and economical developments in the heating appliance market. The fuel cell as an integral part of a micro-CHP unit can mean an enormous advance in terms of optimal fuel utilisation while at the same time considerably reducing exhaust emissions.“In keeping with our advertising slogan 'Always one step ahead' we both want to and have to play our part in an innovative development which promises a high level of efficiency, low CO-2 levels and the use of alternative fuels. Our success and our market approach are based in particular on the innovative orientation of our company, and at the same time, this is the basis on which to create new jobs and to safeguard existing ones.”
www.cfcl.com.au
ENDS