Fuel cell development company Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (CFCL) has reached a milestone in the commercialszation of its NetGenPlus technology with the delivery of the first units to its partners across key European markets.
CFCL will this week complete the first shipment of NetGenPlus units to appliance partners in the UK, France, Holland and Germany. The shipments are being made as part of agreements to develop commercial micro-combined heat and power (m-CHP) products in the region.
In early January CFCL shipped a NetGenPlus unit to its partners in the UK, E.On UK Ltd. and Gledhill Water Storage Ltd., and this week will deliver a unit to its appliance partner in France and Benelux, De Dietrich Thermique.
“Today’s announcement represents another significant achievement, shipping units to partners in each of our four key European territories,” said Brendan Bow, Managing Director of Ceramic Fuel Cells. “We are delighted by the commitment from our utility customers and appliance partners, who are investing both financing and resource into these projects. We are making excellent progress within these projects, and these shipments are the next stage in developing commercial products.”
The recent shipments follow the December 2007 shipment of a NetGenPlus unit to CFCL’s German partners EWE and Bruns Heitztechnik.
The CFCL units are being integrated with the partners’ high efficiency boiler units to create m-CHP products for homes across these large markets. The company has signed formal product development agreements with appliance partners and utility customers in each market – EWE in Germany, Gaz de France in France, E.On UK Ltd. in the UK and Nuon in Holland.
The product development agreements give CFCL access to 20 million utility customers across Europe. In November 2007, the NetGenPlus unit was awarded CE approval, enabling the units to be deployed throughout Europe.
NetGenPlus is CFCL’s next-generation m-CHP system designed to generate electricity and provide hot water and central heating for homes and small businesses. It is powered by CFCL’s advanced metal-ceramic fuel cell stack, running on widely available natural gas, and can be easily connected to existing gas and electricity networks.
