Ceramic Fuel Cells’ first field trial units were operated in Australia, New Zealand, and Germany from early 2006.
In 2007 CFCL developed its high-efficiency Gennex solid oxide fuel cell module. This is the core of the company’s BlueGen® product, which first entered operation with customers in 2010.
The SOFC module also features in CFCL's integrated micro combined heat and power (mCHP) products, which are being developed with appliance partners in Germany, France, and the UK.
Up to 1 May 2012, a total of 189 units have been operated at Ceramic Fuel Cells’ facilities in Melbourne and Germany, as well as at customer sites in nine countries. Cumulative operation from all of these systems has now passed 1 million hours.
The company’s products use ceramic solid oxide fuel cells to turn natural gas into electricity – as well as produce heat for hot water – that is used in homes, schools, offices, and small commercial buildings.
Surplus electricity can be sold back to the grid, or used in supplementary applications such as charging electric vehicles.
The company currently has an order book of 619 units, made up of 264 integrated mCHP products and 355 BlueGen products.
The number of units installed and operating at customer sites has increased significantly in recent months, and has now reached 200.
Brendan Dow, Managing Director of Ceramic Fuel Cells, believes that milestones such as 1 million hours of operation are important.
‘These units are not just operating in our labs, but at many customer sites in nine countries around the world,’ he says. ‘We continue to optimise the lifetime and reliability of our products, offering customers a real alternative to energy generation, saving them money, and dramatically reducing their carbon emissions.’