FuelCell Energy Successfully Completes Operation of Danbury-Based Direct FuelCell Plant

FuelCell Energy Inc. (FCE, Danbury, CT) announced it has completed the successful operation of the 250kW Direct FuelCell (DFC) power plant at its Danbury facility. FCE claims that the grid-connected power plant has met or exceeded its program goals and will be taken off-line on June 30, 2000. The fuel cell module will be disassembled for post-production analysis. The balance-of-plant will be prepared for the installation of another DFC module and a gas turbine later this year to demonstrate a high-efficiency DFC/turbine hybrid power plant.The power plant has generated more than 1.8 million kWh of electricity to the building. For most of this period, it has operated in an unattended mode, with the exception of initial start-up and scheduled shut-downs and re-starts, which are part of the demonstration program. The power plant reached a maximum power of 263 kW. Emissions were rated below requirements, under the Clean Air standard."This was the most successful power plant we ever operated and it confirms the efficiency of our commercial cell and module design," said Dr. Hans C. Maru, executive vice president at FCE. "The operational experience and data will be applied to upcoming field trials that we and our partners have planned over the next 18 months."The fuel cell stack will undergo post-operation inspection to derive design input for upcoming field trials.