Ken .. Was this already built in to the price?
It's getting no ooomph off the news.
DANBURY, Conn., Aug 25, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- FuelCell Energy, Inc. (NasdaqNM:FCEL), a leading manufacturer of ultra-clean electric power plants for commercial and industrial customers, today announced its selection by Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC), of Johnstown, Pa., to modify its fuel cell power plant to run on HD-5-grade propane and switch rapidly between fuels. The system and engineering enhancements will enable the stationary power plant to generate base load electricity even in situations when fuel supplies are threatened due to natural disaster or security issues.
The R&D project is being sponsored by the federal government to augment the ability of Direct FuelCell(R) (DFC(R)) power plants with a "dual fuel" capacity. CTC is the primary contractor to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, involving its Engineer Research and Development Center's Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC--CERL).
The fuel-switching process, which is being developed for FuelCell Energy's DFC300A power plant, is designed to take place in extremely rapid fashion. Once engineered and evaluated, it is anticipated that the fuel switch will take less than a minute.
"The military is always looking for multiple options, whether on the battlefield or in connection with critical stationary facilities here at home," said Franklin H. Holcomb, CERL's fuel cell team project leader. "The ability to switch fuels on the fly, from the standpoint of security, is highly desirable."
DFC units currently are capable of running on any hydrocarbon fuel that has been desulfurized, including natural gas, diesel, jet fuel, coal gas, digester gas, coal mine methane, gasified biomass, coke oven gas, etc. In every case, DFC units maintain their ability to run on an ultra-clean basis, producing virtually no nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide emissions.
"The dual fuel capability of our DFC power plants demonstrates that our products can be an important part of the enhancement of our nation's homeland security efforts," said Dan Brdar, Chief Operating Officer of FuelCell Energy. "If events disrupt the natural gas pipeline or the electricity grid, our fuel cells can immediately switch to on-site propane and provide the necessary power for essential government and other mission-critical facilities."
To enable the fuel cell power plant to run on propane fuel requires engineering changes to accommodate the higher steam-to-carbon ratio required for HD-5 propane, installing flow measurement and control instruments for managing propane rather than natural gas, sizing the humihex fuel humidifier for propane's higher steam/carbon ratio, modifying the control system software, and installing additional control valves for switching fuels.
Initial development will take place at FuelCell Energy's R&D facilities in Connecticut, and the testing and evaluation phases will move to the existing DFC 300A power plant at CTC's Fuel Cell Test & Evaluation Center (FCTec) in Pennsylvania, which is a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) test center.
The project is supported by funding through the DoD, the U.S. Army, as well as ERDC--CERL.
About Concurrent Technologies Corporation
CTC is an independent, nonprofit, applied research and development professional services organization providing management and technology-based solutions to a wide array of clients representing state and federal government as well as the private sector. Established in 1988, CTC operates from more than 35 locations with a staff of 1,400 employees. CTC operates the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Fuel Cell Test and Evaluation Center (FCTec) at its Environmental Technology Facility in Johnstown, Pa. FCTec is a national resource facility for the independent, unbiased testing and validation of fuel cell systems and components for both military and commercial applications. The FCTec's primary goal is to significantly accelerate the development and commercialization of fuel cell systems through comprehensive research, development, test and evaluation, integration, and optimization services. For more information about CTC, visit www.ctc.com.
About ERDC-CERL
The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) is the premier research and development facility for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It consists of seven laboratories (including CERL) at four geographical sites, with over 2,000 employees, $1.2 billion in facilities, and an annual research program exceeding $700 million. ERDC conducts research in both military and civil works mission areas for the Department of Defense and the nation. ERDC supports many critical missions for DoD related to conservation.
About FuelCell Energy, Inc.
FuelCell Energy develops and markets ultra-clean power plants that generate electricity with up to twice the efficiency and tens of thousands times less air pollution than older conventional fuel-burning plants. Creating energy from self-contained reactions, fuel cells 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 has generated over 70 million kilowatt-hours of electricity from 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 green energy. For more information on the company, its products and its worldwide commercial distribution alliances, please see 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.
This news release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the Company's 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.
SOURCE: FuelCell Energy, Inc.
Investor and Media:
Steven P. Eschbach, 203-825-6000
seschbach@fce.com
Copyright Business Wire 2005 ********************************************************************** As of Sunday, 08-21-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on 08-05-2005 for FCEL @ $9.51. (C) 2005 Comtex News Network, Inc. All rights reserved.
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