FuelCell Energy Inc. (Danbury, CT) and Marubeni Corp. (Tokyo, Japan) announced the siting of the first Direct FuelCell (DFC) power plant in Asia at a Kirin brewery plant outside of Tokyo. Marubeni, FuelCell Energy's Asian partner, will supply a 250kW DFC power plant to Kirin's Toride brewery plant in the second quarter of 2002.
The 250kW DFC unit is to be operated in cogeneration mode, using a methane-like digester gas produced from the effluent from Kirin's brewery process. The thermal output of the fuel cell will be used by the anaerobic digester, which treats the brewery effluent.
"Marubeni is pleased to provide Kirin with reliable power and steam for their brewery operations using clean, highly-efficient DFC technology," said Takeo Nakata, general manager of Marubeni's new energies business team. "We look forward to a steady increase in our energy services business using fuel cells from FuelCell Energy."
"We are very happy with the success of our Asian partner Marubeni, in bringing the first Direct FuelCell to Asia and Japan," said Jerry Leitman, president and CEO of FuelCell Energy. "This order represents another step forward in the development of key global markets."
