FuelCell to test its technology with coal

Danbury's FuelCell Energy Inc. is getting another $8.2 million from the federal government to build the latest demonstration version of its clean power generator that runs off coal.

FuelCell and its Colorado technology partner, Versa Power Systems Inc., will share the remainder of the $11.7 million cost to construct a scalable 60-kilowatt solid oxide fuel cell stack powered by gas synthesized from coal.

FuelCell and Versa already have shown practical applications for their technology on a 25-kilowatt stack, FuelCell says. The U.S. Energy Department (DOE) picked up $21 million of the $30.2 million cost for that unit; the partners paid for the rest.

If the demo to start testing in summer 2012 in Danbury works as planned, FuelCell says the DOE envisions 250-kilowatt or larger versions of a power unit that could exploit the nation's abundant coal supply and curb its foreign-oil dependence.

FuelCell says the DOE is collaborating with it and others in private industry and academia to develop megawatt-class solid oxide fuel cell power plants that use coal syngas to generate electricity.

The 10-year project began in 2003 with an estimated price tag of $139 million to be borne mostly by U.S. taxpayers, and project participants shouldering the rest.

To date, FuelCell has built its global reputation and markets on its power generators that use a variety of liquid and gaseous fuels, including renewable wastewater gas, biogas from beer and food processing, as well as natural gas and other hydrocarbon fuels.

Source: Hartford Business.com