DGAP-News: Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd.: EUR12.4M investment in manufacturing facility and commercial order from Nuon
27.02.2008
Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd. / Strategic Company Decision/Product Launch
27.02.2008
Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer / publisher is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd (CFCL), a global leader in fuel cell development,
today announces that it is investing EUR12.4 million in the construction of a
manufacturing plant in Heinsberg, Germany for the commercial production of
its fuel cell systems.
CFCL also announces that it has received a volume order from Nuon, The
Netherlands' largest energy company and CFCL's partner for that market.
CFCL and Nuon have agreed on a set of performance targets for a commercial
unit. On CFCL's achievement of these targets, Nuon will order 50,000 fuel
cell systems, to be delivered over a five year period from June 2009. The
order is expected to generate substantial revenue for CFCL over the five
years.
CFCL's fuel cell systems will be integrated into conventional boilers for
use in the low carbon emission heating and power market. These new
generation, highly efficient fuel cell boilers, known as micro-combined
heat and power (mCHP) units, will be deployed by Nuon for its residential
customers to generate both electricity and heating in their homes.
CFCL will assemble its fuel cell systems at its Heinsberg facility in
automated and semi-automated production lines in a staged scale-up
operation. Initial capacity will be 10,000 units per year, enough to fulfil
the Nuon order. Phase II of the project will see an increase in capacity to
160,000 stacks per year within the existing building. The total cost to
CFCL of phase I of the manufacturing project, including all plant and
equipment and commissioning, will be EUR12.4 million, significantly below
previous expectations. Volume production is expected to commence from June
2009.
In a further technical breakthrough, CFCL's advances in power density have
enabled the Company to increase the output from each of its fuel cell
stacks to 2kW of electricity at minimal additional balance of plant cost.
This significantly reduces the unit's cost per kW and increases the unit's
CO2 savings. A 2kW unit provides ample power for the average household's
annual 'base-load' requirements, as well as additional power for export to
the grid. A 2kW unit can save up to three tonnes of carbon dioxide per
year compared to existing electricity generation. CFCL has frozen the
design of its fuel cell stack and manufacturing processes for the Heinsberg
plant.
Brendan Dow, Managing Director of CFCL, commented:
'Increasing energy prices and the global response to climate change are
contributing to an urgency for the introduction of efficient and clean
energy generation. CFCL is well placed to benefit from these forces.'
'In the past 12 months, we have worked rigorously to achieve a plant design
that will meet our needs both now and in the future. We have engaged a
highly experienced project management team to supervise the plant's
construction in a timeframe that ties in with our plans for first
commercial production. The Heinsberg plant, together with our UK powder
plant and recently announced long term supply agreements with H.C. Starck
and CeramTec, are all part of our co-ordinated strategy to scale up to
volume manufacturing, whilst minimising risk and capital costs.'
'Nuon is supporting our product development through their order for our
entire phase one production capacity. We look forward to continuing to
develop commercial products with our utility customers and appliance
partners in Europe and Japan. With these developments we are well on track
to significantly increase our revenue generation from the second half of
2009.'
Kjartan Skaugvoll, Managing Director, Nuon Retail, said:
'Energy efficiency is a top priority for our customers. The cooperation
with CFCL provides us with great opportunities to help our customers take
the next step in reducing their energy bills and limit emissions. Fuel cell
technology will be an integral part of our future portfolio of products and
services as decentralised generation becomes part of our business
model.'
Contact:
PR Partner GmbH, Simon Barber, Tel.: +49-89-383985-16, Ohmstraße 8, 80802
München, sbarber@prpartner.de
27.02.2008 Financial News transmitted by DGAP
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Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd. / Strategic Company Decision/Product Launch
27.02.2008
Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer / publisher is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
=--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd (CFCL), a global leader in fuel cell development,
today announces that it is investing EUR12.4 million in the construction of a
manufacturing plant in Heinsberg, Germany for the commercial production of
its fuel cell systems.
CFCL also announces that it has received a volume order from Nuon, The
Netherlands' largest energy company and CFCL's partner for that market.
CFCL and Nuon have agreed on a set of performance targets for a commercial
unit. On CFCL's achievement of these targets, Nuon will order 50,000 fuel
cell systems, to be delivered over a five year period from June 2009. The
order is expected to generate substantial revenue for CFCL over the five
years.
CFCL's fuel cell systems will be integrated into conventional boilers for
use in the low carbon emission heating and power market. These new
generation, highly efficient fuel cell boilers, known as micro-combined
heat and power (mCHP) units, will be deployed by Nuon for its residential
customers to generate both electricity and heating in their homes.
CFCL will assemble its fuel cell systems at its Heinsberg facility in
automated and semi-automated production lines in a staged scale-up
operation. Initial capacity will be 10,000 units per year, enough to fulfil
the Nuon order. Phase II of the project will see an increase in capacity to
160,000 stacks per year within the existing building. The total cost to
CFCL of phase I of the manufacturing project, including all plant and
equipment and commissioning, will be EUR12.4 million, significantly below
previous expectations. Volume production is expected to commence from June
2009.
In a further technical breakthrough, CFCL's advances in power density have
enabled the Company to increase the output from each of its fuel cell
stacks to 2kW of electricity at minimal additional balance of plant cost.
This significantly reduces the unit's cost per kW and increases the unit's
CO2 savings. A 2kW unit provides ample power for the average household's
annual 'base-load' requirements, as well as additional power for export to
the grid. A 2kW unit can save up to three tonnes of carbon dioxide per
year compared to existing electricity generation. CFCL has frozen the
design of its fuel cell stack and manufacturing processes for the Heinsberg
plant.
Brendan Dow, Managing Director of CFCL, commented:
'Increasing energy prices and the global response to climate change are
contributing to an urgency for the introduction of efficient and clean
energy generation. CFCL is well placed to benefit from these forces.'
'In the past 12 months, we have worked rigorously to achieve a plant design
that will meet our needs both now and in the future. We have engaged a
highly experienced project management team to supervise the plant's
construction in a timeframe that ties in with our plans for first
commercial production. The Heinsberg plant, together with our UK powder
plant and recently announced long term supply agreements with H.C. Starck
and CeramTec, are all part of our co-ordinated strategy to scale up to
volume manufacturing, whilst minimising risk and capital costs.'
'Nuon is supporting our product development through their order for our
entire phase one production capacity. We look forward to continuing to
develop commercial products with our utility customers and appliance
partners in Europe and Japan. With these developments we are well on track
to significantly increase our revenue generation from the second half of
2009.'
Kjartan Skaugvoll, Managing Director, Nuon Retail, said:
'Energy efficiency is a top priority for our customers. The cooperation
with CFCL provides us with great opportunities to help our customers take
the next step in reducing their energy bills and limit emissions. Fuel cell
technology will be an integral part of our future portfolio of products and
services as decentralised generation becomes part of our business
model.'
Contact:
PR Partner GmbH, Simon Barber, Tel.: +49-89-383985-16, Ohmstraße 8, 80802
München, sbarber@prpartner.de
27.02.2008 Financial News transmitted by DGAP
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