Berlin–On 29 January 2020, Sunfire GmbH presented in Berlin the Sunfire-Home, the first fuel cell unit with a liquefied gas connection.
Thanks to a highly efficient combined heat and power production (CHP or cogeneration), the Sunfire-Home unit provides environmentally friendly and decentralized electricity and heat for residential buildings. The mini CHP systems are used in single-family and multi-family houses that focus on energy efficiency. Whether in a new or existing building, with natural gas or LPG connection – the Sunfire-Home can be used flexibly. The system can be combined with commercially available home technologies, battery storage, solar systems, heat pumps, and other technologies. The Sunfire Home thus increases the degree of self-sufficiency and lowers energy costs in the long term.
Residential buildings are responsible for over a third of CO2 emissions. It is, therefore, necessary to switch to clean solutions. Compared to oil heaters, liquefied or natural gas heaters have a better climate balance. “More and more property owners in Germany want to get more energy in an environmentally friendly and efficient way. With regard to the planned ban on oil heating, many homeowners are faced with the question: what options remain to supply themselves with heat and electricity? This is exactly what we developed the Sunfire-Home for. Due to the highly efficient self-supply with heat and electricity, our fuel cell is not only a clean alternative but also a true all-rounder among the heating systems,” says Andreas Frömmel from Sunfire. With up to 750 watts of electrical and 1.250 kW of thermal power, it reliably covers the baseload requirements of an average single-family home.
“The heating sector urgently needs innovative and efficient technologies so that the defined climate goals can be achieved at European and global level. We are happy that fuel cells such as the Sunfire-Home are finally being used as promising heating systems in homes and that a technology for the use of liquefied petroleum gas is now available,” said Bart Biebuyck, Managing Director of Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU). The development of the Sunfire-Home was supported in the framework of the PACE project, which is funded by the FCH JU. It also includes the market launch and expansion of series production.
About Sunfire
Sunfire GmbH, founded in 2010, develops and produces high-temperature electrolysers (SOEC) and high-temperature fuel cells (SOFC). The company employs more than 140 people. The high-temperature electrolysis generates valuable hydrogen from water and is operated with renewable electricity. In the latest and even more efficient variant, high-temperature electrolysis can reactivate not only water, but also CO2 and thus convert exhaust gases back into a clean raw material in the most direct way, which replaces oil or natural gas. This means that the entire transport sector and many industrial processes that today rely on oil, gas or coal can be made sustainable and CO2-neutral. Further information at:
www.sunfire.de
www.sunfire-home.de
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