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field trial a residential SOFC micro combined heat and power (mCHP) system.
Six utilities -British Gas (Centrica), EnBW and E.ON in Germany, GDF Suez in France, Kiwa Gas Technology (representing Dutch gas trading company GasTerra) and ENMAX Green Power Inc, a subsidiary of ENMAX Energy Corporation in Calgary, have joined a consortium to test and demonstrate Acumentrics' tubular SOFC-based mCHP systems. Several other organizations are expected to join before the end of the year.
The system -the first fully enclosed residential CHP unit -is designed to meet the power and heating needs of an average-size European home using a 1 kW tubular SOFC in combination with a 24 kW condensing boiler, operating on natural gas. Acumentrics and MTS demonstrated the system to potential utility partners at the Elco facility in Hechingen, Germany in the fall last year [FCB, December 2007].
To support the introduction of SOFC mCHP technology into the market, Acumentrics, MTS and the utilities have designed a laboratory and field trial program to evaluate the reliability and performance of the technology. Utilities participating in the consortium will fine-tune the product through the final stages of market introduction in a three-phase program including shared lab demonstration, on-site evaluation at consortium member sites, and initial field trials at their customer sites.
'Our objectives in designing this program are to allow potential partners to observe first-hand the reliability, operating flexibility, rapid start time and energy efficiency of our tubular SOFCbased mCHP systems, and to provide them with the confidence to proceed to field trials of the systems,' says Gary Simon, president/CEO of Acumentrics.
The units can meter excess electricity back to the grid and, in the longer term, could be connected to solar or wind power for hybrid electricity. Acumentrics' CHP units have passed initial qualification in Japan as safe for home cogeneration, and testing has begun at the National Institute of Standards & Technology to develop US standards for SOFCs.
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perform as intended, providing portable power that enables new possibilities.' AMI's SOFC systems are powered by lightweight, inexpensive, and globally available propane. Its fuel cell systems provide portable power to the US military, as well as industrial applications including recreational vehicl
tional $28 million in venture funding. The company, which is developing the MEMS-based Personal Powerβ’ solution for consumer electronic devices using its patented Silicon Power Cellβ’ technology, has also added Ray Stata, co-founder and chairman of signal processing giant Analog Devices, to its board