Heather Clancy
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I write about technology for conservation, efficiency and reuse.
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TECH | 12/12/2013 @ 2:41PM |195 views
Milestone Year For Fuel Cell Energy Installations
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This 59-megawatt park in South Koreas is set to go online in December 2013.
This 59-megawatt park in South Koreas is set to go online in December 2013.
Bloom Energy’s big-name corporate clients have helped it install more than 100 megawatts of electricity generation capacity in the past 12 years. One of eBay’s new data centers even relies on the company’s Energy Servers as its primary energy source.
But one of Bloom’s competitors, FuelCell Energy, apparently has sold triple that capacity – 300 megawatts, which are installed or in “backlog.” That includes the world’s biggest fuel cell “park,” a 59-megawatt installation nearing completion in South Korea. (It’s supposed to go online before the end of December.)
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“We installed our first commercial fuel cell plant in 2003 and announced 1 billion kilowatt-hours of ultra-clean power production in January 2011, which is a time span of eight years,” said Chip Bottone, president and CEO of FuelCell Energy. “We generated the second billion kilowatt-hours in just under two years, and the next billion is expected to be generated in less than one year as a 15-megawatt fuel cell park is nearing completion in Bridgeport, Conn., and a 59-megawatt fuel cell park, the world’s largest, is nearing completion in South Korea.”
For perspective, 2 billion kilowatt-hours of energy is roughly the amount of power that it takes to run about 181,000 average size U.S. homes for one year.
Just to drive things home even more. The entire generation capacity installed by fuel cell technology vendors in 2012 was 120 megawatts, almost three times the amount installed in 2011, according to data from Navigant Research.
The number of companies in the sector generating revenue of more than $1 million almost doubled last year: from 24 to 42.
“Previously, the very survival of the industry was in question,” said Kerry-Ann Adamson, research director with Navigant Research. “Today, in a number of ways, the fuel cell sector is stronger and healthier than ever.”
FuelCell Energy’s technology, called Direct FuelCell power plants, uses natural gas or renewable biogas (from sources such as wastewater treatment or food processing) to generate electricity. The technology is being used in 50 locations globally, by businesses that are seeking an alternate power source – either to meet some sort of renewable energy portfolio goal or just to hedge bets against grid power failures.
The market segment targeted by Bloom and FuelCell Energy is for stationary equipment. Both are attempting to position their technology as appropriate for primary power in business or industrial settings, as well as for back-up applications.
Other companies attempting to reach the same spaces include AFC Energy (from the United Kingdom), Altergy Systems (U.S.), Ballard Power Systems (Canada), ClearEdge Power (the U.S. company that bought some the United Technologies fuel-cell division in mid-2013), and Electro Power Systems (Italy)