E.ON UK ORDERS ADDITIONAL 105 CERAMIC FUEL CELLS' PRODUCTS 28 November 2011

RNS Number : 8480S

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited

28 November 2011

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited [AIM/ASX: CFU], a leading developer of high efficiency and low emission electricity generators for homes and other buildings, is pleased to announce that it has received a new 105 unit order from E.ON UK, one of the UK's leading power and gas companies.

E.ON has also reaffirmed that they are committed to working with CFCL to launch integrated power and heating products for the UK market.

New agreements have been signed with E.ON covering both Ceramic Fuel Cells' BlueGen modular generator and the micro combined heat and power unit in development. Each product uses CFCL's Gennex fuel cell module as its core technology.

   BlueGen          (power + hot water) 

E.ON has ordered 41 BlueGen electricity generators to be deployed under the European Union Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking's Joint Technology Initiative ("JTI") fuel cell demonstration programme. The JTI project partners are E.ON, CFCL, Ideal Boilers Limited and HOMA Software BV of The Netherlands. Under the JTI project, the BlueGen units will be installed in homes and other buildings in the UK, Germany and The Netherlands, during early 2012.

Ideal Boilers is an established UK heating company that has produced boilers for over 100 years. HOMA Software is a software house specialising in remote monitoring and control of micro combined heat and power systems.

An additional four BlueGen units will be deployed by E.ON in demonstration and commercial customer sites.

BlueGen is the first and only fuel cell product to receive Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) certification and be eligible for the UK feed in tariff, which provides 10.5 pence per kilowatt hour of electricity generated, plus an additional 3.1 pence per kilowatt hour of electricity exported to the grid. BlueGen customers are also eligible to receive a feed in tariff in Germany and The Netherlands.

BlueGen uses ceramic fuel cells to turn natural gas into electricity and heat for hot water, with each unit capable of producing more than three times the electricity needed to power the average UK home.(1) Surplus electricity can be sold back to the grid.

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(1) Source: Medium UK household power consumption is 3,300 kWh/year per Ofgem Factsheet 96 18.01.11

   Integrated micro combined heat and power   (power + hot water + home heating) 

CFCL and Ideal are also developing products which provide power, hot water and home heating. CFCL and Ideal have built two prototype units for testing during the 2011/12 heating season.

This completes the development work under the Product Development Agreement signed with E.ON in 2009.

CFCL and E.ON are continuing to work together to develop a range of product configurations for different UK market segments and customer requirements. Once the Product Development Agreement is completed during 2012 the next stage in the parties' collaboration is to negotiate and sign a Product Supply Agreement for commercial products. This is subject to the products performing as expected and to the parties agreeing on the material terms for a commercial product, such as product specification and warranties, pricing, firm order volumes and delivery schedule.

Under the JTI project, Ideal and CFCL will develop up to 60 integrated units, to be installed in homes in the United Kingdom, Benelux and Germany from late 2012. These integrated units will be manufactured by Ideal in the UK.

Unlike BlueGen, these integrated units provide home heating, and will be targeted at the market for replacement home boilers, which in the UK alone comprises 1.6 million(2) units per year.

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(2) Source: Heating & Hot Water Industry Council Market Updates 2010 - 2011

Brendan Dow, Managing Director of Ceramic Fuel Cells, said:

"Our close working relationship with E.ON continues to strengthen as evidenced by this new order and we continue to discuss new ways of broadening our collaboration together. Ceramic Fuel Cells is right at the forefront in the development of high efficiency fuel cell microgeneration and its integration into today's homes."

Dr Chris Horne from E.ON

"These agreements with Ideal Boilers, CFCL and HOMA Software reflect our ongoing relationship to develop fuel cell based products for the retrofit and new build markets. We are now pleased to commit funding and resources at this critical point in the technology's commercialisation. The additional help of the FCH-JTI funding to extend our field demonstrations into the EU, and optimise the component and supply chain is a significant step in delivering commercial products, building on CFCL's market-leading technology. This technology signals that cleaner, more cost-effective energy in the UK home is closer than ever before."

For further information please contact:

  Ceramic Fuel Cells  Andrew Neilson                   Tel: +61 419 950 771                                   Email: investor@cfcl.com.au    Nomura Code Securities (AIM      Tel: +44 (0) 207 776   Nomad)                           1200  Juliet Thompson, Chris Golden    Australia Media enquiries  Richard Allen, Oxygen Financial  Tel: +613 9915 6341   Public Relations    UK Media enquiries               Tel: +44 (0) 7786 116   Mark Way                         991                                    Email: Mark.W@harvardamerica.com  German Media enquiries           Tel: +49 (0) 69 9218                                    7454  Alex Seiler, Hering Schuppener   Email : aseiler@heringschuppener.com   Consulting     

E.ON has been named one of the 100 best employers in Germany.

E.ON has been named one of the 100 best employers in Germany. E.ON also achieved an excellent 5th place postion in the category "Companies with over 5,000 employees" in the coveted Great Place to Work® Institute "Deutschlands Beste Arbeitgeber 2011" awards. This is the 8 time E.ON, one of the largest power and gas companies in Europe, has been successful. The award recognizes attractive employers with a special quality and was conferred by the Great Place to Work® Institute Germany and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs at an award gala in Berlin.


Regine Stachelhaus, member of the E.ON AG Board of Management said: "Our ranking among the top 5 employers in Germany is an award for our HR work. We will not let up in our commitment to create attractive working conditions and development possibilities in order to offer our employees a rewarding working environment and, in an increasingly tighter market, to continue to remain among the best for recruiting talent."


As part of the nationwide employer competition, seven German E.ON companies participated in an anonymous employee survey. The key assessment criteria were credibility, respect and fairness, identification of the employees with and the team spirit in the company. In addition, the activities and concepts of the company’s HR work were analysed and assessed in a ‘culture audit’.


A total of 290 companies from all branches of industry, size categories and regions applied for the quality seal " Deutschlands Beste Arbeitgeber 2011". They were subjected to a thorough examination and an independent assessment of their quality and attraction as employers. The Great Place to Work® Institute Germany surveyed a total of some 120,000 workers.

The annual study and the competition " Deutschlands Beste Arbeitgeber" are conducted by the Great Place to Work® Institute Germany in cooperation with the New Quality of Work Initiative (INQA), the University of Cologne and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. The "Handelsblatt" newspaper and "personalmagazin" are the media partners.

Ceramic Fuel Cell AG BlueGen Brennstoffzellen-BHKW (14/12/10)

Die Zukunft der Stromgewinnung wird in einem Netzwerk dezentraler Stromerzeugung liegen, bei der Elektrizität nahe beim Verbraucher erzeugt wird. Netzwerke dezentraler Stromerzeugung sind eine Lösung für: wachsenden Strom-bedarf, Grenzen konventioneller Kraftwerke, Leistungsverluste durch Übertragungs- und Verteilungsleitungen und erhebliche Investitionen in die Infrastruktur.
Sowohl heute als auch in Zukunft ist eine sichere und hocheffiziente Stromerzeugung mit erheblich geringeren Treibhausgasemissionen notwendig. BlueGen™ ist die neueste Entwicklung in der festoxidkeramischen Brennstoffzellentechnologie (SOFC), um Elektrizität hocheffizient zu erzeugen.

BlueGen™ verwendet das hochentwickelte Gennex™ Brennstoffzellenmodul und erreicht den höchsten elektrischen Wirkungsgrad in der Welt – 60 % elektrischer Wirkungsgrad netto. Das bedeutet, dass BlueGen™ im Vergleich zu traditionellen Kleingeneratoren bei der gleichen Menge an Brennstoff erheblich mehr Elektrizität produziert.



BlueGen™ ist mit einem integrierten Wämeaustauscher ausgestattet, um die Wärme vom Brennstoffzellenmodul zurückzugewinnen. Ein separater Wassertank (nicht mitgeliefert) kann an das Gerät angeschlossen werden, um den Wirkungsgrad des Gesamtsystems weiter zu erhöhen.

BlueGen™ kann eingebaut werden als:

SSStromerzeugungssystem S- Skeine SWärmerückgewinnung S= Snur SStrom

SSBlockheizkraftwerk - mit Wärmerückgewinnung = Strom und Wärme

Wegen des hohen elektrischen Wirkungsgrades produziert BlueGen™ viel weniger Wärme als andere Stromgeneratoren. Weniger Wärme bedeutet, dass das Gerät eine hohe Jahresauslastung aufweist, und darum mehr hocheffiziente Elektrizität erzeugt, die hilft, CO2 Emissionen zu reduzieren.



Funktionalität

Das BlueGen™ - Gerät kann als alleinstehender Generator oder ferngesteuert betrieben werden. Das Ausgangsleistungsniveau kann angepaßt werden, um verschiedene Stromerzeugungsanforderungen abzudecken – von "konstanter Grundlaststrom"-Erzeugung bis zu voreingestellten "Spitzenlast"-Erzeugungsprofilen. Die verschiedenen Betriebsweisen des BlueGen™ Gerätes:

Aufheizen

• vollautomatisch unter Verwendung der Netzspannung(stromnetzunabhängige Inbetriebnahme nicht möglich)

Selbstversorgung

• Gerät produziert Eigenverbrauch, jedoch ohne Strom zu exportieren (z.B. im Fall einer ausgedehnten Stromnetzstörung)

Energieerzeugung

• Gerät exportiert Strom; Export kann von 0% bis zu 100% reguliert werden

Abkühlung

• Netzspannung verwenden (ca. 36 zu 72 Stunden zur sicheren Abkühlung)