Ceramic Fuel Cells Signs Product Development Agreement for a German Residential Combined Heat and Power System


Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited has signed a new product development agreement with EWE, one of Germany’s top five energy suppliers, and Bruns Heiztechnik GmbH (Bruns), a specialist German boiler manufacturer. The project partners will design and develop a fully integrated m-CHP unit for the German residential market.
CFCL received an initial order for its field trial demonstration units from EWE in July 2005. At that time CFCL and EWE also signed a letter of intent to commercialise fuel cell based m-CHP units. In June 2006, CFCL received a second order from EWE, for ten NetGenTM prototype units, as part of an ongoing field trial program.
Under the terms of today’s product development agreement, CFCL will collaborate with Bruns to design and construct 1kW m-CHP units to meet EWE’s specifications for the German market.
The first stage of the project is to design and operate an ‘Alpha’ unit, whereby a CFCL NetGen unit, a Bruns high efficiency condensing boiler and a thermal store will be integrated and operated via a single control unit. Work on this stage has begun and is expected to be completed in 2007. The second stage is to create a near-commercial ‘Beta’ unit, comprising a single physical unit in which a CFCL fuel cell module is fully integrated with a Bruns’ boiler, without the thermal store.
EWE’s participation in this project ensures the development of a customer oriented and economically viable Beta product.
About EWE
EWE ranks among Germany’s largest energy services companies. The group’s business activities comprise electricity, natural gas and water supply, environmental technology as well as gas transmission and trade, telecommunication and information technology. In addition to its home region between the Ems, Weser, and Elbe rivers, EWE is expanding its operations in Eastern Germany and diverse European countries. EWE employs around 5,200 people and in 2005 had sales of €7.4 billion.
http://www.ewe.de/
About Bruns
Bruns Kesselbau has been located in Saterland for over 40 years and in 2006 employed over 200 staff. Bruns products are known under various brand names in the heating market. The company develops and constructs tailor made boilers and storage systems and also products for the booming solar thermal market. With its own R & D section, Bruns develops products known for their simplicity, reliability and maintainability.
http://www.bruns-heiztechnik.de/