Ryan Mee, CEO of Fulcrum Metals, reviews FY23 and progress on the Gold Tailings Hub in Canada. Watch the video here.
Well I agree that the Bluegen doesn't burn gas (because it isn't a boiler). But a boiler which uses a fuel cell with 60% electrical efficiency must surely need to burn gas. Otherwise how does it heat the home. Even if you had a 2kW cell, the waste heat from that is not enough to heat a house in winter...that's why the Bluegen is a non-starter in UK market. A boiler which is using some gas to run the cell must also be using additional gas for the central heating. That proportion of the gas will be burned and create CO2 emissions. And that proportion of gas burned is far greater than that used to produce the electricity even in a fuel cell boiler. So CO2 emissions will be less than stirling engine for same power but only by the proportion that is used for electricity generation. In UK winter most energy is used to heat space and that burns gas. Alternatively you would need something like a 15kW fuel cell and use the electrical power for heating, that cell would emit no CO2 but would be a really expensive cell...Also with fuel cell you are using up the world resources to make it. It is not completely renewable. And a lot of energy is needed to make the cells...which emits CO2. (There is probably more energy used to create a Bluegen than it can ever save in its lifetime.) For future ideas check out synthetic natural gas. Generate electricity from renewable (solar, wing hydro). Easy. Use the electricity for electrolysis of water to get hydrogen. Easy. Now there is an interesting patent that enables reaction of hydrogen with CO2 in a superstate to create methane efficiently (natural gas). That way the input energy is all from renewable sources and you are using CO2 that is produced from burning of the gas. It's a stable cycle that maintains CO2 levels in the atmosphere. Effectively the system is storing energy from the wind and solar in the gas produced instead of batteries so you don't need to dig up earth metals, plus no need to dig explore for more gas. Then you can happily burn your synthetic gas without damaging the environment :-)
But that's not a complete product. The fuel stack is just a part ... a sub assembly. Where is the news of the actual mass market product that it will be used in? There is no point mass producing the fuel stack if there is no commercial product to put it in. Is there any news that any of the partners have a product in which the Ceres fuel cell has been designed and proven? KD Navien boiler for example...That was the point of the July 2013 agreement wasn't it?
But the instantaneous power output is only 1.5kW isn't it? That means at peak demand it won't be enough to supply multiple users....ok maybe two users (one vacuum cleaner even with new regs can be 1600W). And that agrees with the spin in the link from Fcell where says it will deliver 13,000kWh/year (twice demand of Aussie home). If you assume average uk of 3300kWh/year that would be nearly 4 users. But that is not the whole story because to do that the device has to be on 24/7. At low demand (night) the grid doesn't need (or want) the excess power from devices like this. So it is only really giving about 6000kWh/year (or less even) at a useful time. They really need to get the price right down to get customer money back even before the 5 year life of the fuel cell is over. On top of all this the overall efficiency is only 85% so it is worse than a condensing Stirling engine boiler... Anyway good luck with Ceres.
Did you ever run through the survey questions for suitability? http://www.bluegen.info/survey/ It cuts the survey short at question 3 if you aren't using more than 36kWh of electricity per day. That is over 13,000kWh/year!! Ofgem figure for HIGH usage is 5,100kWh. So if your electricity bill isn't already getting in the region of 2 grand a year, CFU are saying themselves that this is not for you....presumably because it can't pay for itself. And BTW any domestic/residential user using 36kWh of electricity per day should be ashamed of themselves.
But you are burning gas to use the device. It is not 100% efficient so you wouldn't run it constantly, only when you also need the heating (hot water). If you are a typical household using 3,300kWh/year, even with a saving of 10p/kWH on the electricity and the FIT and any export you will not get anywhere near £2.2k/year back as saving/profit. And isn't this device £20k to buy and install? It is not matching domestic energy consumption so sales are limited.
Stacey. I put two grand in at 12p. I thought it was a decent gamble. But I don't see much hope of getting that back any time soon. I could have sold at 18p but then again that would defeat the reason for the gamble... Ah, well (pun intended) win some, lose some...
Sorry, I just don't get it. From Bluegen info on website: "BlueGen operates constantly, generating power 24/7 all year-round, regardless of weather. Its typical output is 1.5 kW of electricity - that’s 36 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per day. An average home in south-eastern Australia uses about 7,000 kWh of electricity per year. " Does it still cost £20k? Even if it saved 15p a kWh it will take 19 years to get your money back in the above example. If it was on 24/7 (assuming you need 1.5kW constantly) it would still take 10 years to pay for itself. There is little market in UK for this because it doesn't give enough heat in winter for home heating so you still need a boiler + space for this , and in Australia isn't it cheaper to use solar? Apologies if I got the price wrong. I can't seem to find any recent details for that.
I think this Crest Nicholson installation is from 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By-ujjZPoXA Did this lead to any interest or sales in UK?
I sold a month or so ago meaning to buy back sub 80p and wait for the rise back to 93p resistance. But I bought into another share in the meantime...I won't ramp it here ;-) and missed the recovery... (real reason for selling, disappointment that the nudey photos never materialized...)
Dcdan, Geckoman. I am with you completely. This whole thing is sickening but yes lessons to be learnt. Ok, I have mentioned another company before on here and I will not mention it again because I will be accused of ramping etc. Check where I have been commenting and the latest RNS today with director buys at today's SP. DYOR etc. but don't wallow anymore on this pile of rip off c r a p.