From the second quarter of 2010 E.ON Ruhrgas will operate a BlueGen unit at its micro power and heating test facility in Essen, Germany. About the size of a dishwasher, each BlueGen unit can apparently produce twice the electricity needed to power an average home, with the surplus electricity sold back to the grid. BlueGen also produces heat, to make enough hot water for an average home. BlueGen units can generate electricity more efficiently than the current European power grid, significantly reducing a home’s carbon emissions and cutting energy bills.
Ceramic Fuel Cells claims electrical efficiency of 60%, far higher than any other technology in the rapidly expanding market for small scale power and heating generators. When heat is recovered from the electricity production process, total efficiency is up to 85 percent - twice as efficient as the average among current European power stations. By generating power close to where it is used, Ceramic Fuel Cells’ products can meet the future demand for electricity without the need for huge investments in electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure. The order from E.ON Ruhrgas follows recent BlueGen orders from other German utilities RheinEnergie and EWE, and Dutch gas utility Gasterra, as well as customers in Australia and Japan. Ceramic Fuel Cells has also deployed fully integrated power and heating products with leading energy company Suez GDF in France.
The shares have staged a strong recovery off their lows of c1.71p on 13th February 2009, however, they remain well short of the highs of 40p back in the glory days of 2007! On 22nd January 2010 the group issued its Quarterly Cashflow Report and Trading Update. Underlying net operating cash outflow for the December quarter was A$3.7m (£2m) which is in line with last quarter and cash at the end of the quarter was A$24.1m (£13.5m). The group had a rights issue back in April 2009 raising A$13.4 million at an issue price of 5 cents a share. Starting to gain traction…as they like to say in the City!
