Ceramic Fuel Cells Regulatory News (CFU)

4 Apr 2006 07:00

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited04 April 2006 Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited Field trial update Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited ("CFCL") is pleased to announce it has passed a keymilestone in commercial field trials of its fuel cell-powered combined heat andpower (CHP) units. CFCL has passed 10,000 hours of operation of its fuel cell-based CHP unitsacross its current programme of independent customer field trials. CFCL istrialling demonstration fuel cell-based CHP units in Germany, Australia and NewZealand. These units convert natural gas into electricity and heat, withsignificantly higher energy efficiency and lower greenhouse gas emissions thanconventional methods of energy generation. The demonstration units are designedto produce 1kW of electricity, whilst capturing waste heat to provide hot water. The ongoing trials are underway with: EWE, a leading German utility with annualsales of €6 billion and over one million electricity customers and 750,000gas customers; Powerco, one of New Zealand's largest gas and electricitydistributors servicing some 400,000 consumers; and szencorp, a leadingAustralian developer of environmentally friendly buildings. CFCL also conducteda trial last year with ETTA, one of Australasia's largest and most prominenttraining institutions for the electricity, gas and telecom industries. Theunits, installed at the customers' premises, are monitored and controlled overthe internet by the customer and CFCL. Brendan Dow, CFCL Chief Executive Officer, said: "The announcements we made lastyear that we had delivered fuel cells into the hands of four customers forevaluation was a turning point for CFCL. To have passed 10,000 hours ofoperation within these trials demonstrates that we have developed a robust fuelcell system which functions in real-world conditions. The early focus of these trials has been to demonstrate that the system as awhole works reliably. We've had strong feedback from customers - namely theenergy companies - that field trials are an important step in understanding ourcustomers' needs and gaining experience in actually integrating fuel cell unitsinto an electricity network. These trials allow us to feed back our findingsinto our product development, which will ultimately lead to more efficient andreliable fuel cell units." Contact: Ceramic Fuel Cells LimitedAndrew Neilson +61 419 950 771 announcements@cfcl.com.au Gavin Anderson & CompanyRobert Speed, Janine Brewis +44 20 7554 1400 Libertas CapitalAamir Quraishi, Charles Goodfellow +44 20 7569 9650 Ambrian PartnersJonathan Beatson-Hird +44 20 7776 6400 More information, including images for download, is available at www.cfcl.com.au EWE With annual sales of €6.1 billion, 5,200 staff, over one million electricitycustomers and 750,000 natural gas customers, the EWE group is Germany's fifthlargest utility. Two demonstration units were dispatched in December 2005 andinstalled and commissioned at EWE's headquarters in Oldenburg, Germany, inJanuary 2006, after receiving CE approval. Powerco Powerco is one of New Zealand's largest gas and electricity distributors,servicing some 400,000 consumers, representing about 46% of New Zealand's gasconnections and 16% of its electricity connections. One unit was delivered toPowerco in June 2005 and is installed at Industrial Research Limited inWellington. A second unit is due to be delivered to a Powerco partner inTasmania, once the partner has completed site works. szencorp szencorp has installed one demonstration unit in its ground breaking energyefficient commercial office building at 40 Albert Road, South Melbourne. Theunit was installed late last year and was commissioned in January 2006. ETTA Energy and Telecommunications Training Australia is one of Australasia's largestand most prominent training institutions for the electricity, gas and telecomindustries. One unit was installed at ETTA's premises in Chadstone, Melbourne inAugust 2005, before being moved into the szencorp site (see above). CFCL has haddiscussions with ETTA about installing a NetGen unit at ETTA's site in 2006. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange