FuelCell Energy Highlights Advances in Renewable Biogas Applications using SureSource Fuel Cell and Proprietary Gas Treatment...
December 30 2019 - 8:30AM
FuelCell Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq: FCEL), a global leader
in delivering clean, innovative and affordable fuel cell solutions,
recently announced the start of commercial operation of the 2.8
megawatt fuel cell project located at the city of Tulare,
California’s waste water treatment facility. This milestone
is the culmination of fifty years of innovation optimizing the
application of SureSource power plants for power generation with
on-site renewable fuels.
Using biogas began with the company’s very first commercial
power plant shipment in 2003. That first 250 kW system
operated on digester gas at a Kirin Brewery in Japan. A year
later the company started the first prototype of today’s 1.4MW
SureSource 1500 at the King County Wastewater Treatment plant in
Renton, Washington. In subsequent years, the company has
deployed over 20 MW of fuel cell systems operating on renewable
biogas at wastewater treatment facilities agricultural facilities
and breweries in California and around the world, leading up to the
recently commissioned 2.8 MW Tulare project and the in-development
1.4 MW San Bernardino project.
FuelCell Energy’s continued focus on innovation led to a series
of improvements in the gas cleaning and purification techniques the
company uses to execute on-site biogas applications, leading to the
best in class solution for clean power generation from this
abundant and ever growing renewable resource. Some of the key
advances developed through this extensive experience include the
following:
- Dual-fuel capability: In the first Kirin brewery
application in 2003, the brewery did not make biogas on the
weekends, and natural gas was not available. FuelCell Energy
developed a feature that allowed its molten carbonate fuel cells to
operate on propane during biogas outages. Now all FuelCell
on-site biogas projects include a backup fuel capability, with the
on-site biogas backed up by a secondary supply of natural gas or
directed biogas.
- Fuel-blending capability: At the King County facility, while
consistent full power output was desired, the biogas production
rate varied through the week. FuelCell Energy developed a
feature that allowed its fuel cells to operate on any blend ratio
of biogas and natural gas, keeping output at the plants level while
biogas availability fluctuated. This fuel blending feature is now
standard on FuelCell Energy’s platform and supports any project
with varying biogas availability.
- Improved gas cleanup: Biogas has approximately 60% of the
energy content of natural gas due to dilution with carbon
dioxide. Biogas includes impurities such as moisture and high
levels of sulfur. The carbon dioxide dilution does not cause
a problem for carbonate fuel cells as a result of unique properties
of the carbonate electrochemistry, however the gas needs to be
dried and the sulfur needs to be removed. Early projects used
third-party suppliers for gas treatment systems, which suppliers
used a variety of approaches based mostly on internal combustion
engine experience. Some of those systems were ineffective or
unreliable, and in some cases led to projects not meeting
expectations due to fuel contamination. Realizing the need to
leverage its own research and development expertise, FuelCell
Energy developed in-house an improved, proprietary clean-up
system. The first SureSource TreatmentTM system has been
operating flawlessly at the City of Riverside since September 2016,
and will be a key element of all biogas projects going
forward.
- Advanced Gas Monitoring: Sulfur cleanup is very important
to fuel processing, and available technologies for continuously
measuring sulfur concentration did not have the sensitivity or
reliability needed to protect the fuel cell. FuelCell Energy
developed a proprietary approach to sulfur detection exponentially
more sensitive than anything available on the market. This
technology has been operational at Riverside, was recently
installed on the Tulare project, and will be a key part of all
future projects.
These advances uniquely position FuelCell Energy to maintain a
market leadership position and capture significant market share
associated with the growing biogas power generation
opportunity. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has
previously estimated the potential for electricity generation from
biogas in the United States is 4.7 GW, consisting of 0.6 GW
wastewater, 2.6 GW landfill, and 1.5 GW agricultural1. The
World Biogas Association estimates the global potential for
wastewater and landfill gas opportunities to be 40 – 50 times that
of the United States, and the agricultural potential more than 200
times.2 Only a fraction of this potential is currently being
used for power generation, meaning that biogas methane is being
vented or burned in flares, negatively impacting the
environment. Widespread application of on-site biogas power
production using the advanced technologies developed at FuelCell
Energy can eliminate this waste and contribute to global
decarbonization objectives.
1
https://www.usda.gov/oce/reports/energy/Biogas_Opportunities_Roadmap_8-1-14.pdf2
https://www.worldbiogasassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/WBA-globalreport-56ppa4_digital-Sept-2019.pdf
Cautionary Language This news release
contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe
harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995, including, without limitation, statements with respect to
the Company’s anticipated financial results and statements
regarding the Company’s plans and expectations regarding the
continuing development, commercialization and financing of its fuel
cell technology and business plans. All forward-looking statements
are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those projected. Factors that
could cause such a difference include, without limitation, changes
to projected deliveries and order flow, changes to production rate
and product costs, general risks associated with product
development, manufacturing, changes in the regulatory environment,
customer strategies, unanticipated manufacturing issues that impact
power plant performance, changes in critical accounting policies,
potential volatility of energy prices, rapid technological change,
competition, and the Company’s ability to achieve its sales plans
and cost reduction targets, as well as other risks set forth in the
Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The
forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the
date of this press release. The Company expressly disclaims any
obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or
revisions to any such statement to reflect any change in the
Company’s expectations or any change in events, conditions or
circumstances on which any such statement is based.
About FuelCell EnergyFuelCell
Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) delivers efficient, affordable and
clean solutions for the supply, recovery and storage of
energy. We design, manufacture, undertake project development
of, install, operate and maintain megawatt-scale fuel cell systems,
serving utilities and industrial and large municipal power users
with solutions that include both utility-scale and on-site power
generation, carbon capture, local hydrogen production for
transportation and industry, and long duration energy
storage. With SureSource™ installations on three continents
and millions of megawatt hours of ultra-clean power produced,
FuelCell Energy is a global leader in designing, manufacturing,
installing, operating and maintaining environmentally
responsible fuel cell power solutions. Visit us online at
www.fuelcellenergy.com and follow us on Twitter @FuelCell_Energy.
SureSource, SureSource 1500, SureSource 3000, SureSource 4000,
SureSource Recovery, SureSource Capture, SureSource Hydrogen,
SureSource Storage, SureSource Service, SureSource Capital,
FuelCell Energy, and FuelCell Energy logo are all trademarks of
FuelCell Energy, Inc.
Contact: |
FuelCell
Energy203.205.2491ir@fce.com Source: FuelCell
Energy |
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