Ceramic Fuel Cells welcomes govt plans to raise electricity feed-in tariff

Ceramic Fuel Cells has welcomed the UK government's announcement of an increase in the feed-in tariff for micro power and heating products (m-CHP), including the company’s BlueGen product.

This week, the UK Climate Change Minister, Greg Barker, announced the Phase 2 consultation on feed-in tariffs for a range of technologies, including m-CHP.

He laid out the government’s plans to increase the m-CHP feed in tariff from October 2012 from a total of 14.1 pence to 15.6 pence.

The tariff comprises a generation tariff, which was increased from 11.0 pence to 12.5 pence for every kilowatt hour of electricity generated on-site, plus an export tariff of 3.1 pence for every kilowatt hour of electricity exported to the grid.

Ceramic Fuel Cells said its BlueGen product is the first and currently the only fuel cell m-CHP product to receive certification under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) and be eligible for the feed-in tariff.

The government consultation on the feed-in tariffs closes on April 26 2012 and the new tariffs are expected to take effect from October this year.

Ceramic Fuel Cells managing director Brendan Dow said: “The proposed tariff increase is certainly a step in the right direction, although it falls short of the 15 pence tariff advocated by the group of companies most actively promoting m-CHP in the UK, which includes Ceramic Fuel Cells and E.ON UK, amongst others.”

Ceramic Fuel Cells' BlueGen product converts natural gas into electricity and heat for hot water for homes and other buildings. BlueGen delivers an electrical efficiency of up to 60 per cent. When the heat from BlueGen is used to produce hot water, total efficiency increases to up to 85 per cent.

Source: Andre Lamberti, Proactive Investor