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Europe’s first megawatt size fuel cell power plant
The first megawatt size fuel cell power plant to be installed in Europe has begun producing electricity in Mannheim, Germany. The 1.4 MW plant, installed by E.ON and FuelCell Energy Solutions, generates clean heat and electricity through a non-combustion process.
Fuel cells convert chemical energy from hydrogen rich fuels to electrical power and usable high quality heat through an electrochemical process.
The plant, built and installed for materials specialist company Friatec, has an electrical efficiency of 47% and is expected to cover about 60% of the total energy requirements for the company’s production processes. It is predicted to reduce the company’s carbon emissions by around 3,000 tonnes per year, and to operate for ten years.
The natural gas fed fuel cell will supply Friatec with around 11.2 GWh of electricity and 6,000 MWh of thermal energy for self-consumption.
Photo: FuelCell Energy Solutions
News Item details
Journal title: Energy World
Subjects: Engineering, Energy efficiency, Electricity generation, Heat generation, Natural gas, Production engineering, Dispatchable power plants, Fuel cells
