Air Products Selects FuelCell Energy for Development of Next Generation Hydrogen Energy Station; U.S. Department of Energy Proje
August 03 2005 - 8:30AM
Business Wire
Air Products (NYSE: APD) announced today that it has awarded a
subcontract to FuelCell Energy, Inc. (NasdaqNM:FCEL) under a United
States Department of Energy (DOE) Cooperative Agreement to
evaluate, design and demonstrate a next-generation Hydrogen Energy
Station (HES). The HES will build upon FuelCell Energy's
ultra-clean Direct FuelCell(R) (DFC(R)) power plants and Air
Products' advanced gas separation technologies. The HES is directed
toward co-producing hydrogen for vehicle fueling and electrical
power from a single system. The HES effort will be directed toward
a capability of using readily available fuels such as natural gas,
propane and anaerobic digester gas from municipal and industrial
wastewater treatment facilities. "This Hydrogen Energy Station
could establish a bridge for continued hydrogen infrastructure
development. The HES will integrate aspects of FuelCell Energy's
DFC technology and Air Products' process and separation technology
to provide a unique and highly-efficient offering. Air Products
believes that the HES can potentially be competitive with other
distributed hydrogen generation technologies," said Greg Keenan,
business development manager for Future Energy Solutions at Air
Products. Several locations are being evaluated for the
demonstration of the HES, presently scheduled to be on-stream in
2007. "We are currently commercializing our DFC power plants for
combined heat and power applications in the U.S., Europe and Asia,"
said Dr. Hansraj C. Maru, FuelCell Energy's chief technology
officer. "Making hydrogen available locally for other applications,
such as automotive fuel cells, enhances the value proposition of
our DFC products." On-site generation of hydrogen is a potential
solution to challenges relating to development and construction of
an infrastructure for fueling hydrogen vehicles. The HES will be
based upon the use of high-temperature fuel cell technology to
produce three products; hydrogen, heat and electricity, wherein
unreacted hydrogen can be recovered from anode exhaust gas. The HES
will be designed to optimize the output based on user demand.
FuelCell Energy's sub-megawatt power plant will be integrated with
an Air Products hydrogen purification system and related support
sub-systems. The HES is designed to provide up to 250 kilowatts of
electricity daily, sufficient to provide the base load power
requirements of a 300-room suburban hotel, and enough hydrogen to
fuel 20 cars per day. Air Products recently completed a detailed
evaluation on technical and economic aspects of this project under
an initial phase of the effort. The system evaluation of
co-producing hydrogen and electricity resulted in promising
economics. "A single unit that potentially offers all three
products is certainly attractive as a technology option for a
number of new applications," said Keenan. He added that power
plants based upon this technology offer high efficiency, being able
to recover up to 80-85 percent of the energy entering the system,
and have low emissions. FuelCell Energy has more than 40 power
plant installations utilizing its base DFC technology throughout
the world. Since it delivered its first commercially-available DFC
power plant in January 2003, FuelCell Energy's units have generated
more than 70 million kilowatt hours of electricity at customer
sites. The HES evaluation effort will expand on experience gained
from Air Products' initial hydrogen energy station developed under
DOE funding and in conjunction with the City of Las Vegas. The
world's first hydrogen energy station featuring the co-production
of hydrogen fuel and electric power was formally dedicated in
November 2002. About Air Products Air Products (NYSE:APD) serves
customers in technology, energy, healthcare and industrial markets
worldwide with a unique portfolio of products, services and
solutions, providing atmospheric gases, process and specialty
gases, performance materials and chemical intermediates. Founded in
1940, Air Products has built leading positions in key growth
markets such as semiconductor materials, refinery hydrogen, home
healthcare services, natural gas liquefaction, and advanced
coatings and adhesives. Air Products is recognized for its
innovative culture, operational excellence and commitment to safety
and the environment and is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability
and FTSE4Good Indices. Air Products has annual revenues of $7.4
billion, operations in over 30 countries, and nearly 20,000
employees around the globe. For more information, visit
www.airproducts.com. About FuelCell Energy, Inc. FuelCell Energy
develops and markets ultra-clean power plants that generate
electricity with up to twice the efficiency with virtually no air
pollution. Fuel cells can produce base load electricity where
commercial and industrial customers face cost, reliability,
security or environmental issues with their existing energy
supplies. Emerging state, federal and international regulations to
reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions consider fuel cell power
plants in the same environmentally friendly category as wind and
solar energy sources -- with the added advantages of running 24
hours a day and the capacity to be installed where wind turbines or
solar panels often cannot. Headquartered in Danbury, Conn.,
FuelCell Energy services over 40 power plant sites around the
globe, and conducts R&D on next-generation fuel cell
technologies to meet the world's ever-increasing demand for
ultra-clean distributed energy. For more information on the
company, its products and its worldwide commercial distribution
alliances, please see www.fuelcellenergy.com. Direct FuelCell, DFC
and DFC/Turbine are registered trademarks of FuelCell Energy, Inc.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
The company's sub-megawatt DFC fuel cell power plant is a
collaborative effort combining its Direct FuelCell technology with
a Hot Module(R) balance of plant design from MTU CFC Solutions,
GmbH, a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler. *** Note from Air Products:
This release may contain forward-looking statements. Actual results
could vary materially, due to changes in current expectations. ***
Note from FuelCell Energy: This news release contains
forward-looking statements, including statements regarding plans
and expectations regarding the development and commercialization of
its fuel cell technology. 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, the risk that
commercial field trials of the Company's products will not occur
when anticipated, general risks associated with product
development, manufacturing, changes in the utility regulatory
environment, potential volatility of energy prices, rapid
technological change, and competition, 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.
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