News

January 11, 2008

Ceramic Fuel Cells Edges Closer To Commercialisation

By Rue Swabey

Australia-based, but AIM listed Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (CFCL) has developed fuel cell technology which has the potential to be commercialised on a large-scale. Its micro combined heat and power (m-CHP) unit generates constant electric power while producing hot air and water from waste heat. The NetGenPlus is a next-generation m-CHP system designed to generate electricity and provide hot water and central heating for homes and small businesses. The unit is powered by CFCL’s metal-ceramic fuel cell stack which runs on natural gas and can easily be connected to existing gas and electricity networks.

The business plan is to sell to the utility companies rather than the end user and the company has already signed product development agreements with utility companies that cover all of the key European markets and include E.ON (UK’s Powergen), Gaz de France, Germany’s EWE and Nuon in Holland. Together CFCL’s utility customers have more than 20 million customers across Europe. All the contracts with utilities are three-way product development agreements that include boiler manufacturers. <br...