Ultra-Clean power plants provide electricity and heat

Danbury, CT— FuelCell Energy, Inc. announced that two of its Direct FuelCell® (DFC®) units will provide electricity for a 650-bed hospital and a wastewater treatment facility in South Korea as part of the government’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

One DFC300A power plant will be installed at Chosun University Hospital in Kwangju, a city of 1.4 million, while the second unit will go to the Tancheon Sewage Treatment Plant, serving South Korea’s capital, Seoul. The 250 kilowatt (kW) power plants were sold last year by POSCO, a major South Korean industrial concern. The power plant sales were announced in November 2004 as part the agreement among FuelCell Energy, Marubeni Corp. and POSCO to distribute and package DFC power plants in Korea. Both power plants are expected to be operational in the fall of 2005.

The Korean Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) has targeted more than 20 percent of the country’s power generation to be from fuel cells. As part of MOCIE’s long-range plans to foster Korean energy independence and combat global warming, the ministry also is providing 250 billion won (approximately $218 million) through 2008 to develop new and regenerative energy technologies — including fuel cells, solar and wind power.

The fuel cell for Chosun University Hospital, an institution with 24 medical departments staffed by 800 personnel, will provide quiet, on-site and reliable power to meet the significant energy demands of a healthcare facility. This power plant, fueled by natural gas, is expected to provide a portion of the facility’s base load power. Waste heat from the fuel cell will be used to heat hot water for the hospital.

At the Tancheon plant, which processes 19 percent of the Seoul’s daily sewage output, the DFC unit will operate on methane gas generated by the facility’s anaerobic gas digestion process. One of only four sewage treatment plants in the national capital area, Tancheon is a critical link in efforts to clean the Han River, a major waterway running through the region. The treatment plant has a capacity to treat 1.1 million cubic meters (291 million gallons) per day on a 97-acre site in downtown Seoul.