Fuel cell developer Sulzer Hexis Ltd. (Winterthur, Switzerland) has signed a distribution agreement with natural-gas supplier Gasverbund Mittelland AG (GVM, Arlesheim, Switzerland) that calls for 30 single-family home systems to be made available for testing in Swiss households. The agreement calls for the systems to be tested and analyzed for use in Swiss households, and for the companies to work out a concept for market introduction of the near-series fuel cell systems from Sulzer Hexis.
With the signing of the agreement with GVM, 400 pre-series fuel cell systems, the HXS 1000 Premiere, are under contract to be tested and further developed in cooperation with energy utilities and installers. The fuel cell system, which generates 1kW of electrical and 2.5kW of thermal power, will be manufactured within the scope of a pre-series phase by the end of 2003 at Sulzer Hexis and tested mainly in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
