DANBURY, Conn. - FuelCell Energy Inc. has announced that its modular 300 kW Direct FuelCell® (DFC®) power plant has met the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) stringent distributed generation emissions standards for 2007.
An earlier model of the DFC300MA, which was capable of producing 250 kW of power, had previously attained this certification. Through the incorporation of an advanced cell stack design, FuelCell Energy achieved a 20 percent increase in power output this past fall, which required the plant to be recertified to the CARB emissions standard. By meeting this standard, the company’s newest DFC300MA power plant, which will begin shipping to customers in California in the second quarter, is categorized as an ‘ultra-clean’ distributed generation technology, exempting it from air quality district permitting requirements.
Fuel cells and other ultra-clean products meet these requirements, while combustion equipment generally does not. In addition, the CARB certification qualifies the company’s products for preferential rate treatment by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) including the elimination of “exit fees” and “standby charges” for customer electric generation.
“California is one of the largest power consumers in the world so it is critical for us to design products that meet its requirements,” said William Karambelas, FuelCell Energy’s vice president of business development, Western Region. “With this certification, we once again demonstrate our corporate commitment to delivering ultra-clean, efficient power plants. We significantly increased the power output of the DFC300MA while reducing production costs and maintaining our low emissions standards - a significant achievement by our technical and manufacturing teams.”
For more information on FuelCell Energy, visit www.fuelcellenergy.com.
Publication date:04/09/2007