Calor Gas to target rural buildings with fuel cell CHP system
Published on 12 March 2009
The company launched its partnership with fuel cell specialists Ceres Power at London’s Ecobuild exhibition this week, which will see the technology trialled over the next three years before a wider roll-out.
"This machine uses half the amount of energy customers are currently using"
- says Paul Riding from Calor UK
Ceres Power, which is already working with Centrica on a domestic fuel cell system to run on mains gas supplies, has an exclusive deal with Calor for using the technology with LPG in off-grid homes and businesses.
The deal will see £2.5 million paid to the Crawley-based fuel cell company in staged payments, including £1 million up-front, followed by an advance order of 20,000 units for the five-year period after 2012, should trials prove successful.
Fuel cells are electro-chemical "engines" that quietly produce electricity from a supply of methane or hydrogen fuel without any moving parts.
The Ceres-Calor system will provide 1kW of electricity and 20kW of thermal heat, where about half of the fuel used would go towards electricity generation, half on heat provision.
Ultimately, there are more than two million homes and businesses in the UK that do not have access to the gas mains, along with more than 100 million in Europe.
Speaking to New Energy Focus, Calor market development manager Paul Riding said of the fuel cell tie-up: "It’s very much the way the market needs to go.
"In this country we have very high-carbon electricity. If you look at what we deliver, it’s already a low carbon fuel. This machine uses half the amount of energy customers are currently using, and that’s before we start doing structural changes like insulation"
- he said
The fuel cell LPG system is likely to cost customers a £2,000 premium on top of the cost of a standard boiler replacement, but offering 80-90% efficiency including its heat use, the two companies behind it point to the cost-saving benefits that would make up for the up-front capital cost.
Peter Bance, Ceres Power chief executive said there would also be the opportunity for customers to benefit from government incentives including future feed-in tariffs, capital grants or VAT tax breaks.
Factory
Ceres Power is currently in the process of securing a site in the South East of England for a mass production factory.
Mr Bance said the facility would be fitted out and commissioned in the first half of 2009, with production starting later in the year, ramping up to full capacity in 2010.
"It will be ideally situated in the South East, where there are a lot of skills available - there will be lots of green collar jobs here. Dozens to start with, leading to hundreds in time, particularly with export markets."
- Mr Bance said of the factory