Victorian Government FiT update (7263D)
May 21 2012 - 2:01AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMCFU
RNS Number : 7263D
Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited
21 May 2012
Monday 21 May 2012
Victorian Government review supports feed in tariffs for fuel
cells
Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (AIM / ASX: CFU) - a leading
developer of high efficiency and low emission electricity
generation products for homes and other buildings - is pleased to
announce that the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission
(VCEC) has recommended that feed in tariffs be extended to include
small scale low emissions generators like fuel cells.
The draft report by VCEC, released on Friday 18 May, recommends
that Victoria's solar PV feed in tariff be broadened to include all
low-emissions and renewable technologies, with a requirement that
electricity retailers must offer a wholesale price based feed in
tariff for distributed generation of 100 kilowatts or less.
Feed-in tariffs are payments to distributed generators for
electricity generated at their premises and fed back into the power
grid. VCEC recommends that the feed in tariff be based on the
wholesale price for electricity. A report commissioned by VCEC
notes that this value varies depending on time, location, and the
type of generation technology. The report estimates that currently
this value is approximately seven cents per kilowatt hour.
Ceramic Fuel Cells' BlueGen gas to electricity generator would
be eligible for this feed in tariff, making Victoria the first
State in Australia to provide a feed in tariff for fuel cells.
BlueGen customers already receive feed in tariffs in Germany and
the United Kingdom.
The VCEC draft report adopts several recommendations made by
Ceramic Fuel Cells in our submission and consultation with VCEC,
including:
-- Extending the standard feed in tariff regime to include small
scale low emissions technologies;
-- Defining 'small scale' as 100 kilowatts or less;
-- Defining 'low emission' as 50 percent or lower than the
emissions intensity of the national electricity network;
-- Simplifying the process for connecting small scale generators to the power grid.
Ceramic Fuel Cells' Managing Director Brendan Dow said:
We welcome the VCEC recommendation to extend feed in tariffs to
low emissions generation like our BlueGen product. A fair feed in
tariff will deliver value for local BlueGen residential customers.
The VCEC report is certainly a step in the right direction,
although we believe the proposal to only pay the wholesale rate for
power - about seven cents - does not reflect the benefits of
increased network efficiency from distributed generation.
We look forward to our ongoing consultation with VCEC and to the
Victorian Government adopting the report and delivering a feed in
tariff for our locally developed clean energy technology, and in
the meantime we will continue to increase sales in offshore markets
like Germany and the UK which already provide feed in tariffs.
The Victorian Government commissioned the VCEC report in January
2012. VCEC is seeking submissions on its draft report by Friday 15
June, before making its final report to Government in July
2012.
BlueGen units use ceramic fuel cells to turn natural gas into
electricity - as well as heat for hot water - for homes, schools,
offices and small commercial buildings. Surplus electricity can be
sold back to the grid or used in supplementary applications such as
charging electric cars. BlueGen has the highest electrical
efficiency of any small scale generating technology in the world,
reducing energy bills and cutting carbon emissions.
BlueGen units are operating with customers in Melbourne,
Shepparton, Canberra, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane, as well as
nine other countries worldwide. In Australia BlueGen units are
available to commercial and Government customers through our
distributors Harvey Norman Commercial and Hills Solar.
ENDS
More information:
-- The VCEC report, and information on providing submissions, is
available at www.vcec.vic.gov.au.
-- Contact details for BlueGen distributors are at www.bluegen.info/Distributors/
-- BlueGen product information is at www.bluegen.info
-- BlueGen recently featured on Australian Channel 7's Today Tonight program - http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/latest/article/-/13501222/power-saving-breakthrough/
For more information please contact:
Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited
Andrew Neilson Mobile : +61 (0) 419 950
Email 771
: investor@cfcl.com.au
Nomura Code Securities (AIM Nomad)
Chris Golden Tel. : +44 (0) 207 776
1200
Australian media enquiries
Richard Allen Tel. : +61 (0) 3 9915
Oxygen Financial Email 6341
Public Relations : richard@oxygenpr.com.au
UK media enquiries
Mark Way Tel. : +44 (0) 7786 116
MW Research PR Email 991
: mark.w@harvardamerica.com
German media enquiries
Alex Seiler Tel. : +49 (0) 69 9218
Hering Schuppener Email 7454
Consulting : aseiler@heringschuppener.com
About Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited:
Ceramic Fuel Cells is a world leader in developing fuel cell
technology to generate highly efficient and low-emission
electricity from widely available natural gas. Ceramic Fuel Cells
has sold its BlueGen gas-to-electricity generator to major
utilities and other foundation customers in Germany, the United
Kingdom, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Australia, and
the USA. Ceramic Fuel Cells is also developing fully integrated
power and heating products with leading energy companies E.ON UK in
the United Kingdom, GdF Suez in France and EWE in Germany.
The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM market
and the Australian Securities Exchange (code CFU).
www.cfcl.com.au
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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