Showing posts with label sales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sales. Show all posts

Friday, 29 July 2011

Ceramic Fuel Cells appoints German Distributor Initial order for 100 BlueGen units


25 July 2011

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (AIM/ASX: CFU), the world's leading developer of high efficiency and low emission power products for homes, has received an initial order for 100 BlueGen units from sanevo Lizenz-GmbH & Co. KG. Ceramic Fuel Cells has also signed a distribution agreement with sanevo to market, sell, install and service BlueGen gas-to-electricity products in regions of Germany and Austria.

Sanevo has placed an initial order for 100 BlueGen units to be delivered in the first year, with a target minimum order of 500 units for delivery in the second year and a target of 2000 units over years three and four.

Provided sanevo orders these agreed minimum numbers of BlueGen units during 2012 to 2014, sanevo has exclusive rights to distribute BlueGen to commercial and residential customers in the German States of Baden-Wurttemberg and Bavaria, and in Austria. Ceramic Fuel Cells retains full rights to sell BlueGen units to utilities and energy service companies.

The order for 100 units is the largest order so far for the Company's BlueGen product, and builds upon the recent order for 25 units from Ausgrid in Australia. Ceramic Fuel Cells has now received orders for a total of 206 BlueGen units and up to 200 integrated mCHP products.

Based in Offenbach, near Frankfurt, sanevo has substantial experience in marketing and selling new technology power and heating products in Germany through more than 120 qualified sales partners.

Sanevo has partnered with SAG GmbH - one of Germany's largest independent service and system providers for electricity, gas, water and telecommunications products and networks - to provide installation and after sales service for BlueGen products. SAG has more than 8,300 staff in operations across Germany and Europe. With sales revenue of one billion euro, SAG has over 120 locations throughout Germany to provide a high level of service availability.

In April 2011 sanevo and SAG each purchased a BlueGen unit for their own buildings.

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 German home. (In Germany the average home consumes an estimated 4,100 kilowatt hours of electricity per year.)

Surplus electricity is sold back to the grid or used in supplementary applications such as charging an electric car. In addition, surplus heat is captured for domestic hot water use. BlueGen units generate electricity with the highest electrical efficiency of any small scale generating technology in the world, reducing energy bills and cutting carbon emissions.

BlueGen customers in Germany are eligible to receive a feed in tariff for the power exported back to the grid.

Wednesday, 1 June 2011

Ceramic Fuel Cells sells 25 BlueGen units to Ausgrid for Newcastle 'Smart Grid, Smart City' project

Re Agreement

TIDMCFU

RNS Number : 5110H

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited

31 May 2011


Tuesday 31 May 2011

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited [AIM/ASX:CFU], a leading developer of high efficiency and low emission electricity generation units for homes and other buildings, today announced it has signed a contract to sell 25 BlueGen gas-to-electricty units to Ausgrid (formerly Energy Australia).

The units will be installed in homes in Newcastle as part of Ausgrid's 'Smart Grid, Smart City' project. The $100 million project, funded by the Australian Government, is Australia's largest smart grid project.

The 25 BlueGen units - the second largest BlueGen order received by Ceramic Fuel Cells - will be installed in homes over the next few months, generating electricity from natural gas with the world's highest electrical efficiency, as well as providing hot water for the home.

The 'Smart Grid, Smart City' initiative utilises a smart grid - a new type of electricity network that uses advanced communication, sensing and metering that more efficiently manages electricity supply and demand. The initiative is gathering robust information about the costs and benefits of smart grids, and will inform future decisions by government, electricity providers, technology suppliers and consumers across Australia.

The project's consortium includes CSIRO, Ibm Australia, AGL, GE Energy, TransGrid, Newcastle City Council and the NSW Government.

The order from Ausgrid follows the company's previous purchase of a BlueGen unit for its Smart Home in the Sydney suburb of Newington. Since the unit was installed in August 2010 it has generated 9,283 kilowatts ofpower and saved 10.4 tonnes of CO2 compared to power from the local grid. Importantly Ausgrid has run the unit in a variety of modes, including constant power and modulating power, to match the typical load of a home. The BlueGen at the Smart Home has been generating about twice as much electricity as the family has been using to run their household appliances and charge an electric vehicle. Any excess electricity generated by the BlueGen has been exported to the grid.

Brendan Dow, Managing Director of Ceramic Fuel Cells, said: "We are delighted that Ausgrid has selected BlueGen units for its 'Smart Grid, Smart City' project. The distributed generation of electricity - creating electricity near the place of use, rather than centrally - is an important part of the future of smart grids."

Ausgrid Managing Director George Maltabarow said: "We're testing whether adding distributed generation like fuel cells can make the grid more efficient by flattening out peaks in electricity demand, as well as deliver benefits to households."

Monday, 23 May 2011

Ceramic Fuel Cells signs BlueGen sales and service agreement for the UK with the RES Group

RNS Number : 0584H

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited

23 May 2011


Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited(1) , a leading developer of high efficiency and low emission electricity generation units for homes and other buildings, has signed a distribution agreement with RES On-Site Limited, part of the RES Group(2) , to market, sell, install and service Ceramic Fuel Cells' BlueGen gas-to-electricity units in the United Kingdom.

Under the terms of the non-exclusive agreement RES On-Site will distribute BlueGen, targeting the commercial microgeneration energy market throughout the UK. RES On-Site holds MCS (Microgeneration Certification Scheme) installer accreditations in a wide range of technologies and is adding the microCHP accreditation to this and so will provide installation and after-sales service for BlueGen products. It will also support Ceramic Fuel Cells in developing the market for BlueGen.

The RES Group is a leading international renewable energy company with operations across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. To date the RES Group has delivered more than 5GW of renewable energy projects worldwide. RES On-Site sells and installs a range of low emission power and heating products for commercial, industrial and public sector customers, including wind, biomass, solar PV and solar hot water.

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 home. The UK average domestic power consumption is estimated at 3,300 kWh per annum(3) .

Surplus electricity can be sold back to the grid or used in supplementary applications such as charging an electric car, as well as having the additional benefit of providing heat for domestic hot water use. BlueGen units generate electricity at up to double the efficiency of the current power grid, reducing energy bills as well as making significant carbon savings.

Most recently, BlueGen has been successfully chosen to participate in CE Electric UK's GBP54 million low-carbon Smart Grid project.

Commenting on the announcement, Brendan Dow, Managing Director of Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited said:

"To be working with the RES Group, one of the world's leading renewable energy development companies, is exciting news for CFCL and is yet another endorsement of BlueGen.

"The reputation, expertise and market penetration that the RES Group offers means that we are now even better placed to capitalise on the significant market opportunities that the UK offers."

Mike Atkinson - Managing Director, RES On-Site Limited added:

"RES are delighted to add the world leading BlueGen microCHP product from CFCL to our portfolio of class leading renewable and low carbon energy technologies. This diverse portfolio allows RES On-site to offer our customers the most suitable solution for their specific carbon reduction application.

"The UK Government's tariff structures supporting the deployment of exciting new products such as BlueGen makes the UK a hugely dynamic developing market for renewable technologies and RES On-site is committed to being at the forefront of that market."

Paddy Thompson, General Manager Business Development at Ceramic Fuel Cells added:

"RES On-Site Limited is highly experienced and MCS accredited, and together we are ready to enable BlueGen customers to take full advantage of the microCHP feed in tariff as well as the considerable energy cost and carbon savings made available by BlueGen.

"This is the first UK distributor agreement signed by CFCL and we look forward to working closely with RES On-Site as awareness of the many benefits offered by fuel cell cogeneration grows."

The agreement is in line with Ceramic Fuel Cells' strategy to sell BlueGen units worldwide through a network of distributors and to outsource the sale, installation and service of BlueGen units. The agreement with RES On-Site Limited in the UK follows similar BlueGen distribution agreements with partners in Australia.

- ends -

Notes for Editors

1 - About Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited:

-- Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited is a world leader in developing fuel cell technology to provide highly efficient and low-emission electricity from widely available natural gas.

-- Ceramic Fuel Cells is developing fully integrated power and heating products with leading energy companies E.ON UK in the United Kingdom, GdF Suez in France and EWE in Germany.

-- Ceramic Fuel Cells has also sold 70 BlueGen gas-to-electricity generators to major utilities and other foundation customers in Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Australia and the USA.

-- Ceramic Fuel Cells is listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM market and the Australian Securities Exchange (code CFU).

-- For further information: www.cfcl.com.au

2 - About the RES Group

-- RES On-site is part of the RES Group. RES is one of the world's leading independent renewable energy project developers with operations across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. At the forefront of wind energy development for over 25 years, RES has developed and/or built more than 5GW of renewable energy projects worldwide.

-- The RES Group is active in a range of renewable energy technologies including large-scale biomass, solar, wave and tidal and on-site renewable installations.

-- For more information, visit www.res-group.com

Monday, 21 February 2011

In 2010, wind energy competitiveness greatly increased

The cost of wind turbines on the main international wind farm markets fell below one million euro per MW, which is the lowest wind power generation cost that was ever registered.

Oversupply and increased manufacturing efficiency. According to the most recent edition of the Wind Turbine Price Index published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, this is why in 2010 all major wind farm markets registered a sharp fall in prices of onshore wind turbines.

The Bloomberg NE index examined more than 150 sale contracts of onshore wind turbines, for a total of nearly 7,000 MW in 28 countries around the world, focusing on Europe and the Americas. It was found that in the first half of the year the average price of wind turbines for the buyer was 980,000 €/MW (with peaks of 900,000), recording a 7% decrease over the previous year and a 19% drop compared with the peak reached in 2007-2008.

Specifically, UK, USA and Italy benefited the most from the reduced cost of wind turbines.

According to Bloomberg NE, wind energy generation cost has currently reached its all-time lowest point. In a number of wind installations located in areas with excellent wind conditions (in the US, Sweden, Mexico and Brazil), the current cost of generated energy (including capital and maintenance costs and excluding the effect of incentives ) roughly amounts to $68 per MWh (50 €). For comparison, according to Bloomberg updated average cost of coal power plants amounts to $67 per MWh and $56 MWh for gas-fired plants.

Dropping wind turbine prices may be uncomfortable for manufacturers, but it is good news for wind farm project developers and it further improves the cost-competitiveness of wind energy compared with gas and coal. The main conclusions of the analysis are:

• Global turbine contracts signed in late 2010 for delivery in H1 2011 and H2 2011 display very aggressive pricing, with average values at €0.98m/MW ($1.33m/MW). This is a 7% decrease compared to contracts signed in 2009 (€1.06m/MW) and 19% down from peak values in 2007-08 (€1.21m/MW).

• The decrease in the Wind Turbine Price Index is partly driven by a larger proportion of US based contracts compared to the previous issue of the Index (July 2010), but pricing remains aggressive in all parts of the world.

• Low-priced power-purchase-agreements in markets with exposure to electricity prices – rather than fixed feed-in tariffs – seem to have put further pressure on turbine contracts: Italy, the UK and the US all display average pricing well below €1m/MW for contracts signed in 2010 for delivery in H2 2011. The US presents the lowest pricing of all markets so far with values averaging $1.27m/MW (€0.93/MW).

• All manufacturers covered by the survey have displayed aggressive pricing, including several contracts for leading ("Tier 1") manufacturers – in some cases below €0.90m/MW ($1.22m/MW).

• The cost of electricity generated from wind power is now at record lows: several wind farm projects in high resource areas (US, Brazil, Sweden, Mexico) display a levelised cost of energy – excluding the impact of subsidies but after including the cost of capital and maintenance – below EUR 50/MWh ($68/MWh). This compares to current estimated average costs of $67 per MWh for coal-fired power and $56 per MWh for gas-fired power.

• Onshore turbine prices per MW of capacity are now for the first time lower than they were before the surge in steel and other commodity prices. The levelised cost of wind power has been driven down not only by lower turbine costs, but also by higher yields per MW of capacity.

• Procurement officers for the developers in the survey expect prices to stabilise around current levels for 2011 and 2012, with few further reductions in the near term. They expect gradual increases in pricing from 2012–13 as global demand recovers.

The Bloomberg New Energy Finance Wind Turbine Price Index includes the cost of turbines, as well as transport to site (marine and overland) but excludes VAT, construction and connection costs.

Michael Liebreich, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, commented: “The latest edition of our Wind Turbine Price Index shows wind continuing to become a competitive source of large-scale power. For the past few years, wind turbine costs went up due to rising demand around the world and the increasing price of steel. Behind the scenes wind manufacturers were reducing their costs, and now we are seeing just how cheap wind energy can be when overcapacity in the supply chain works its way through to developers."


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