FuelCell Energy of Danbury could cement its position as the world”™s leading commercial fuel cell manufacturing company by doubling the world”™s capacity of fuel cell output during the next few years if the state”™s Department of Public Utility Control accepts six FuelCell projects submitted under the state”™s Project 100.
“This is a very large step forward for FuelCell Energy and the fuel cell industry,” said Frank Wolak, FuelCell”™s vice president, of the projects being forwarded by the state”™s two utilities to the DPUC. “The total installed capacity of commercial fuel cell power plants worldwide is about 50 megawatts to 60 megawatts,” Wolak said. The six Project 100 FuelCell projects now in the hands of DPUC total 67.7 megawatts (MW). “This is the first visibility of multimegawatt power plants in the world,” he said. “When this comes to fruition, Connecticut will more than double the worldwide fuel cell capacity to date.”
The six FuelCell projects ”“ four of them in Fairfield County ”“ were among 11 projects chosen by the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund earlier this year and forwarded to the state”™s two utilities for analyses. Three of them, two at 19.6 MW each and one at 13.7 MW, will be the largest fuel cells in the world. All three will be located in Fairfield County.
“We manufacture large-scale fuel cell power plants,” said Wolak. “We view ourselves as a world leader in the large, multimegawatt fuel cells and high-efficiency fuel cells. There”™s no one in the world that comes close to the type, size and commercial status of our fuel cell technology.”
One other fuel cell ”“ a 1 MW project by United Technologies in Hartford ”“ was included in the 11 that Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P) and United Illuminating analyzed and forwarded to the DPUC Aug. 22.
“We don”™t give a thumbs up or a thumbs down on any of these,” said Mitch Gross of CL&P”™s communications department. “Our participation in the process is very limited. All we do is analyze them for cost to the consumer and possible savings to the consumer.”
Anita Steeves of United Illuminating said the cost-benefit analysis of the projects “shows that the Connecticut utility customers will pay a premium associated with the development of these projects.” But “the long-term thought is that over time the renewable resources will stabilize prices as we displace the need for fossil fuel generation,” said David Goldberg of the DPUC.
“Most renewable resources are more expensive to develop and build, but once they”™re built, the fuel cost is typically less than fossil fuels,” Goldberg said. And although fuel cells use natural gas, its use is more efficient in a fuel cell, he said.
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Worldwide visibility
The General Assembly mandated that 100 MW of renewable energy generation ”“ later beefed up to 150 MW ”“ be under contract with the state”™s two public utilities by 2008. CL&P and United Illuminating will buy power from the renewable sources approved by the DPUC. “FuelCell Energy can get one or two or all of them selected,” Goldberg said, although chances are all of the 11 projects will be approved. The state”™s legislature mandated that all the Project 100 initiatives be determined by the end of this year.
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Once contracts are negotiated, he said, it could take anywhere between two and five years “before these things are up and running.” And although some projects have already moved through the permitting and site-plan process, “we”™re still looking out several years before you”™ll have operational projects.”
The FuelCell power plants “can solve electric grid congestion while reducing the need for new transmission and distribution investment,” said Daniel Brdar, FuelCell”™s chairman and CEO. “The state is well on the way to achieving its goal of 20 percent clean energy production by 2020.”
FuelCell”™s headquarters and research and development facilities are in Danbury, while its manufacturing operations are in Torrington. The company has been hiring at both locations, beefing up its employment levels because of Project 100 and because of its increasing visibility worldwide.
Last month, the company announced that its strategic partner, POSCO in Pohang, South Korea, formed a partnership with Korean Electric Power Co. ”“ the world”™s fifth-largest electric utility that supplies more than 95 percent of the country”™s electricity ”“ to develop and jointly market power plants incorporating fuel cell stack modules made by FuelCell Energy.
POSCO will build a factory capable of producing 50 MW by 2008 and 100 MW by 2010. When completed, the facility will be the world”™s largest by production capacity. FuelCell Energy will continue to make the core fuel cell modules and ship them to POSCO, which will provide the balance of power plant equipment and system integration.
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