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The California Center for Sustainable Energy in San Diego announced today that the University of California, San Diego will receive $11 million in incentives from California’s Self-Generation Incentive Program for the installation of an innovative fuel cell energy generation and storage system. This is the largest amount ever awarded by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for a renewable energy project and is the nation’s first advanced energy storage project to receive state incentive funds.

The planned 2.8-megawatt fuel cell, funded at $7.65 million, will be paired with an additional 2.8-megawatt advanced energy-storage system, funded at $3.4 million, which will allow UC San Diego to store off-peak power and discharge the energy during peak-demand hours. It is the largest project of its kind in the world. Integrating clean, renewable generation with advanced energy storage is an important strategy for transforming California’s electricity system into a sustainable “smart grid,” according to the CPUC.

“Increasingly the state will be relying on renewable resources, like wind, fuel cells and other technologies that do not necessarily produce energy when it is most valuable,” said CPUC President Michael R. Peevey. “Storage solves that problem, transforming what would otherwise be low-value energy into high-value energy that can be used on-site to reduce peak energy demand. UCSD should be commended for taking this important step.”

The $11 million award for the UC San Diego project comes from the CPUC’s Self-Generation Incentive Program that provides rebates for fuel cell and wind generating systems from 30 kilowatts to 3 megawatts in size. The California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE) administers the program within the San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) service territory. CCSE is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering public policy and programs that promote clean and efficient energy technologies and practices.

“Advanced energy storage lets us take the best advantage of renewable generation resources, and at the same time, it can improve the reliability of the electric system and ensure the level of power quality that a modern society requires,” said Andrew McAllister, CCSE director of programs. “CCSE and UCSD have been advocates for inclusion of advanced energy storage in incentive programs as an important way to develop this new marketplace. CCSE is pleased to partner with UCSD on this and many other projects.”

The integration of this continuously available renewable resource with energy storage will demonstrate for the first time the ability to optimally meet the daily peaks and valleys of customers’ electricity demand loads, according to Byron Washom, UC San Diego’s director of strategic energy initiatives.

“The fuel cell integrated with energy storage is the centerpiece project for UC San Diego providing global leadership in smart grid initiatives” said Washom. “It is the world’s largest commercially available system and the first such unit of this size to utilize renewable methane gas as fuel.”

UC San Diego’s fuel cell and storage system is being deployed by BioFuels Energy, LLC of Encinitas, Calif., and is scheduled to be completed in 2010. FuelCell Energy, Inc. of Danbury, Conn., the world’s largest supplier of fuel cells, will provide the system, which utilizes a well-established electrochemical process to convert the purified methane gas directly into electricity without combustion. The renewable methane will be collected at the City of San Diego’s Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant, purified and compressed on-site and delivered to the UC San Diego campus by BioFuels Energy. The wastewater treatment plant’s methane is currently flared into the atmosphere as waste gas.

Once in operation, the electrical output of the fuel cell will be used to help power UC San Diego’s microgrid and also be stored for discharge during periods of highest electricity demand. The entire fuel cell and storage project is expected to cost as much as $16 million. In addition, the university will capture the waste heat generated by the fuel cell as a continuous power source for 320 tons of chilling capacity to cool campus buildings.

UC San Diego is committed to reducing its carbon footprint through energy-efficient operations and developing renewable-energy sources that can serve as a basis for other projects. The campus has one of the country’s most sophisticated microgrid energy systems that generates 80 percent of the university’s electricity needs with a 30-megawatt gas turbine plant and 1 megawatt of solar photovoltaic arrays. The campus’s microgrid energy system maximizes the efficient use of power while supplying a community of 54,000 students, faculty and staff.

The UC San Diego fuel cell and storage system will reduce carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 8,200 tons per year. The California Air Resources Board has certified the local pollution emissions of the planned fuel cell system as an “ultra clean” electrical generation technology that is exempt from the permit requirements of air pollution control or air quality management districts.

Fuel cells produce electricity by separating the component electrons and protons of a fuel, which will be methane gas at UC San Diego, and forcing the electrons to travel through a circuit that converts them to electrical power. Methane-powered fuel cells are in operation at landfills and waste water treatment plants across the country, as well as at several breweries. Fuel cells will operate virtually continuously as long as the reactant fuel is replenished.

WASHINGTON — A House committee approved a bill today that would boost federal spending on research into new vehicle technologies, including hybrids and hydrogen fuel cells, by $216 million.

The bill sponsored by Rep. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, passed the House Science and Technology Committee on a voice vote, and now goes to the full House for consideration.

Peters’ bill calls for $550 million to be spent by the U.S. Department of Energy on vehicle research in the 2010 fiscal year, up from the $334 million requested by the Obama administration. The bill also calls for some of its money to be spent on hydrogen fuel cell research, an area the Obama administration had said it wanted to cut, but that Congress appears ready to restore.

The bill increases the research money by $10 million a year through 2014, and also provides money for research into technologies for medium and heavy-duty trucks.

DETROIT, July 29 (UPI) — U.S. automaker General Motors Co. said its hydrogen fuel-cell research program is in danger of falling behind as funding grows scarce.

“The program has not slowed down at all. The issue is, going forward, do we have sufficient money to operate at that rate,” GM’s vice president of research, Larry Burns, told USA Today Wednesday.

The program is years away from putting a hydrogen fuel-cell car on the market, but it has been able to run steadily despite GM’s bankruptcy filing this summer.

But the program is likely to be under more scrutiny this year. GM’s commercial business has received about $50 billion in government bailout funds prior to and during its bankruptcy proceeding

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In his first months as secretary of the Department of Energy, Steven Chu reduced the hydrogen research budget by $100 million to focus on electric cars, which are closer to market acceptance and already in production.

GM is seeking grants to maintain its research and has some support in Congress, where some lawmakers have intentions to restore funding, the newspaper said.

Sydney– Ceramic Fuel Cells (ASX:CFU) has extended its agreement with GDF Suez to develop and deploy fuel cell micro combined heat and power (mCHP) units in France.

Ceramic Fuel Cells’ heat and power units convert natural gas to electricity and heat, providing power and heating for homes and other buildings.

GDF Suez has agreed to fund their share of the development of a fully integrated mCHP, comprising a fuel cell module from Ceramic Fuel Cells together with a condensing boiler from the De Dietrich Remeha Group.

The mCHP unit will produce up to 2kW of power and provide hot water for use in French households.

Ceramic Fuel Cells and De Dietrich Remeha expect to deliver the first fully integrated unit to GDF Suez in late November 2009.

The integrated mCHP will be operated at GDF Suez’s test facilities in Paris.

This mCHP will have all the functionality expected of a commercial mCHP product.

In parallel the parties will work on the next version of the mCHP for deployment in large numbers.

Ceramic Fuel Cells is also developing products with leading utility and appliance partners in Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan.

Ceres Power announces that it has successfully completed the fit out of its 50,000 sq. ft. (5,000 m2) fuel cell mass manufacturing facility in Horsham. The fit out works involved upgrading power and air handling equipment , health & safety systems and other services as well as preparing the facility for the installation of volume fuel cell manufacturing equipment.

The key fuel cell manufacturing equipment has been procured and installation of some of the main machines is already underway. It is anticipated that an initial manufacturing line will be commissioned during Q3 2009 and manufacturing operations will commence during Q4 2009. The facility will manufacture low volume beta units in 2009 and into 2010 for sheltered field trials under the contract with British Gas. Additional equipment will be installed in 2010 to deliver the higher volumes required for commercial field trials and in preparation for volume launch with British Gas in 2011.

The facility in Horsham will mass manufacture fuel cells and assemble fuel cell stacks and fuel cell modules in volume. Assembly of the CHP products in volume will be completed by an assembly partner in accordance with Ceres Power’s overall design and sold by Ceres Power under volume supply agreements with channel partners including British Gas and Calor Gas.

The new volume manufacturing facility will create a significant number of new skilled ‘green-collar’ jobs in Horsham and the surrounding area both at Ceres and in the Company’s supply chain.

Peter Bance, Chief Executive Officer of Ceres Power, commented:

“We are delighted to have completed the fit out of Ceres Power’s fuel cell mass manufacturing facility. Our residential CHP products have the potential to make a major contribution to reducing carbon emissions and we are investing in our operational capabilities to produce large numbers of products cost effectively”.

The Environment and Natural Resources Committee of the Victorian Parliament is conducting an inquiry into the approvals process for renewable energy projects in Victoria.

Ceramic Fuel Cells made a submission to the Committee and was invited to appear. Managing Director, Brendan Dow appeared before the Committee on 27 July 2009.

A copy of Ceramic Fuel Cells’ briefing note which was given to the Committee is below. The hearing was recorded for Hansard and a transcript should be available in a few weeks.

More information about the inquiry is at http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/enrc/inquiries/renewable_energy/default.htm

For further information please contact:

Ceramic Fuel Cells
Andrew Neilson
Tel: +61 3 9554 2300

Australia Media enquiries
Richard Allen,
Oxygen Financial Public Relations
Tel: +613 9915 6341

About Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited is a world leader in developing solid oxide fuel cell technology to provide highly efficient and low-emission electricity from widely available natural gas. The company is developing micro combined heat and power and distributed generation units that generate electricity and heat for homes and other buildings. Ceramic Fuel Cells is developing products with leading appliance partners and utility customers in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Japan. In May 2009 the company launched its BlueGen gas-to-electricity product. Headquartered in Melbourne, and with operations in the UK and Germany, Ceramic Fuel Cells is listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM market and the Australian Securities Exchange (code CFU).

GARDNERVILLE, NV– SymPowerco Corporation (PINKSHEETS: SYMW) CEO John Davenport today revealed details of the terms of the recently announced government grant in support of the development of the company’s unique Flowing Electrolyte Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (”FEDMFC”). Polygenic Power Systems, Inc. (”PPSI”), SymPowerco’s majority-owned subsidiary, was recently informed by the Ontario Centres of Excellence (”OCE”) that it was successful in its application for a grant from the OCE’s Centre of Excellence for Energy.

The Centre of Excellence for Energy, a part of Ontario’s Centres of Excellence, was created to address the significant challenges and opportunities posed by the current energy situation in Ontario, Canada. The Centre invests in and promotes cutting-edge research collaborations between industry and colleges, universities and research hospitals. The Centre’s objective is to foster innovation in energy markets, systems and technologies. The Centre works with industry to solve problems by engaging the brightest minds at Ontario’s universities and colleges in the challenges faced by businesses.

The grant has been approved in support of the FEDMFC development project to be undertaken by the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Carleton University in Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, Ontario, in collaboration with PPSI, which is jointly owned by SymPowerco (70%) and Hybrid Energy Technologies of Toronto, Canada (30%). The total value of the project has a cash and “in kind” value of CDN $1,040,655.

SymPowerco CEO, John Davenport, commented, “We at SymPowerco are very excited and pleased that the lengthy application process for this grant has been so successful. Our application went through an exhaustive process of evaluation and peer review. The peer reviews were conducted by academics from various universities and research organizations and by successful business people. They were all chosen by the Ontario Centres of Excellence and were all anonymous to SymPowerco. We believe this process and the grant funding is very confirming of the importance and viability of SymPowerco’s Flowing Electrolyte Direct Methanol Fuel Cell technologies.”

SymPowerco Corporation develops advanced fuel cell and power delivery systems for the rapidly growing personal transportation and portable power system markets. SymPowerco’s soon-to-be majority-owned subsidiaries, HOSS Motor Sports and Highline Hydrogen Hybrids Systems, offer potentially expansive synergies and marketing opportunities with SymPowerco’s Flowing Electrolyte Direct Methanol Fuel Cell and Hybrid Power System technologies.