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Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited

03 May 2011

Ceramic Fuel Cells' fuel cell technology a "clean technology option for the future" - RMIT University study

Monday 2 May 2011

Ceramic Fuel Cells' solid oxide fuel cells can deliver significant benefits in electricity production and carbon reduction to thousands of Australian buildings, a team at RMIT University's Centre for Design has found.

The high quality of power and reliability of electricity generated from fuel cells - which can deliver electricity without large surges, spikes and outages - mean they have great potential in industries like banking, data centres, grocery chains and storage facilities. Fuel cells are also cost-efficient alternatives to batteries in serving as back-up power systems.

Deepak Sivaraman, Simon Lockrey and Andrew Carre - authors of Potential Opportunities for Increased Fuel Cell Deployment in Australia: A Ceramic Fuel Cell Case Study - determined that Ceramic Fuel Cells' technology could be utilized in many ways to either aid buildings earn energy and low carbon accreditation or comply with new, green building codes.

Over the past decade in Australia electricity demand increased at an annual average rate of 2.7%. Each year in Australia around 200 million tonnes of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere from electricity and heat production from non-renewable resources.

According to the RMIT report, the transition to a low carbon electricity sector in the future is "very necessary", and can be achieved using both renewable and low carbon technologies.

"The solid oxide fuel cell technology manufactured by Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (CFCL) is a clean technology option for the ... future," the report says. "Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (CFCL) is a global pioneer in manufacturing solid oxide fuel cell technology. It is a co-generation system: it has the flexibility to generate different amounts of electricity and heat from natural gas inputs."

The paper explores the following federal and state regulatory structures, which cover a variety of buildings including homes, offices, hotels, retail outlets, schools, libraries and hospitals.

-- National Australia Built Environment Rating System (NABERS)

-- Green Building Council of Australia; Green Star Rating Tool

-- Australian Building Codes Board: Alternate Energy Supply for Hot Water

-- New South Wales Energy Efficiency Scheme

-- Green Star Public Building Pilot Tool

-- NSW BASIX Program

The RMIT paper explains that the NABERS and Green Star Rating system (Green Building Council of Australia) awards higher ratings to the buildings based on the difference in carbon intensity between onsite fuel cell generation and grid electricity generation.

The authors recommend that states with more carbon-intensive electricity grids such as Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia and Victoria be targeted for fuel cell deployment. Under the NABERS scheme a typical commercial building using high efficiency fuel cells to produce 100% of its electricity needs will obtain a five-star rating - the highest possible (the study example uses a 100 m(2) 'market average performing' commercial building, or 2.5 stars on grid electricity, in NSW).

The report also concludes that solid oxide fuel cells can also be used under the New South Wales Energy Efficiency Scheme and NSW BASIX Program to create greenhouse gas abatement certificates. In the case of the New South Wales Energy Efficiency Scheme these certificates can be sold for a market price. Under the NSW BASIX Program the fuel cell technology can be utilized to comply with state regulations - in both new and existing buildings.

Similarly, the technology can also be used to supply hot water to different types of buildings under the Australian building code framework. The latest Green Star Public Buildings Tool makes a provision for low carbon technologies to be utilized, enabling buildings to earn credit points through reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The RMIT report is available at www.cfcl.com.au

For further information please contact:

 
Ceramic Fuel Cells 
Andrew Neilson                          Tel: +613 9554 2300 
                                        Email: investor@cfcl.com.au 
 
Australia Media enquiries               Tel: +613 9915 6341 
Richard Allen, Oxygen Financial Public 
 Relations 
 

About Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited:

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited is a world leader in developing fuel cell technology to provide highly efficient and low-emission electricity from widely available natural gas. Ceramic Fuel Cells is developing fully integrated power and heating products with leading energy companies E.ON UK in the United Kingdom, GdF Suez in France and EWE in Germany.

Ceramic Fuel Cells has sold more than 60 BlueGen gas-to-electricity generators to major utilities and other foundation customers in Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Australia and the USA.

Ceramic Fuel Cells is listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM market and the Australian Securities Exchange (code CFU).

www.cfcl.com.au

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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