- Notice of Selection Under U.S. Department of Energy Program to Capture About 60 Tons Per Day of CO₂ While Simultaneously Producing Approximately 40,000 Kilowatt Hours Per Day of Ultra-Clean Electricity
- Affordable and Scalable Fuel Cell Solution Captures CO₂ While Producing a Revenue Stream From Electricity Generation
DANBURY, Conn., Sept. 01, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FuelCell Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq:FCEL), a global leader in the design, manufacture, operation and service of ultra‐clean, efficient and reliable fuel cell power plants, today announced the selection for negotiation of a $23.7 million cost share carbon capture project with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy. Sponsored by the National Energy Technology Laboratory, the project is to install and operate a two-megawatt Direct FuelCell® (DFC®) system configured for carbon capture in addition to power generation. The carbon capture fuel cell system will be a modification of the Company’s commercial DFC3000® fuel cell power plant and will be installed next to an existing coal-fired power plant to capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the exhaust of the coal plant. The Company expects to finalize the award with the DOE by the end of September 2015. The Company is evaluating multiple sites with interested utility and independent power producers that operate coal-fired power plants and expects to announce the site selection in the fall of 2015.
“Our affordable carbon capture solution solves coal-fired power plant emission challenges, enabling an incremental transition to cleaner power generation from coal,” said Chip Bottone, President and Chief Executive Officer, FuelCell Energy, Inc. “Our value proposition is attracting a lot of interest in the power industry and from legislators in states with a reliance on coal as we address a compliance obligation with a solution that provides a project return compared to conventional carbon capture approaches that incur only costs.”
The initial installation under this project represents the first of an expected two phase project at the selected site. The second phase, to follow this DOE project, would be to install eleven additional fuel cell power plants to capture approximately 700 tons/day of CO2 in total, while simultaneously generating about 648,000 kilowatt hours/day of ultra-clean power.
The carbon capture solution for this project routes the flue gas from a coal-fired power plant into the fuel cells air intake system. The CO₂ is concentrated and captured within the fuel cells and approximately 70 percent of smog producing nitrogen oxide (NOX) is destroyed, supporting clean air initiatives, such as the U.S. Clean Power Plan. Following capture, the CO₂ is cooled and compressed utilizing standard chilling equipment and is available for industrial or agricultural applications, enhanced oil recovery or sequestration. Unlike commercially available carbon capture technologies which significantly reduce the power output of the existing coal-fired power plant, DFC-based carbon capture is projected to provide additional clean power while separating carbon dioxide from the flue gas of the coal-fired power plant.
“Generating power while simultaneously capturing carbon emissions means that a coal-fired power plant operator or a project investor receives a return on capital, making this an affordable solution for ratepayers,” continued Mr. Bottone. “The power plant operator can adopt our solution incrementally, capturing greater amounts of carbon and reducing pollutant emissions over time, while increasing the overall power output of the facility.”
The multiple advantages of FuelCell Energy’s DFC carbon capture fuel cell solution include:
- Utilizes a proven fuel cell power system owned by utilities on three continents
- Scalable solution that can be added incrementally over time to capture greater amounts of CO₂
- Affordable to rate payers and provides the owner with a revenue stream from the sale of electricity generated by the fuel cell power plants
- Extends life of coal-fired power plants with an easy-to-site solution that addresses emission challenges
FuelCell Energy has more than 50 sites operating globally with customers in nine countries. These fuel cell power plants utilize a fuel source such as natural gas or renewable biogas, combined with ambient air, to cleanly and efficiently generate power via an electrochemical reaction that virtually avoids the emission of pollutants. The fuel cell power plants configured for carbon capture will utilize natural gas as the fuel source and process the flue gas from the coal-fired power plant in the fuel cell air system, where CO2 will be transferred across the fuel cell membrane for concentration in the fuel exhaust stream during power generation. Learn more about this fuel cell carbon capture solution including a schematic that illustrates the affordable economics for ratepayers - click here
About FuelCell Energy
Direct FuelCell® power plants are generating ultra-clean, efficient and reliable power at more than 50 locations worldwide. With more than 300 megawatts of power generation capacity installed or in backlog, FuelCell Energy is a global leader in providing ultra-clean baseload distributed generation to utilities, industrial operations, universities, municipal water treatment facilities, government installations and other customers around the world. The Company’s power plants have generated over three billion kilowatt hours of ultra-clean power using a variety of fuels including renewable biogas from wastewater treatment and food processing, as well as clean natural gas. For additional information, please visit www.fuelcellenergy.com, follow us on Twitter and view our videos on YouTube.
Direct FuelCell, DFC, DFC/T, DFC-H2 and FuelCell Energy, Inc. are all registered trademarks of FuelCell Energy, Inc. DFC-ERG is a registered trademark jointly owned by Enbridge, Inc. and FuelCell Energy, Inc.