Ceramic Fuel Cells - First BlueGen unit installed - VicUrban’s Aurora community

[Vajras]

BlueGen began generating power from 29 April 2010

Designed to generate 1-2 kW of electricity constantly, at a very high electrical efficiency (up to 60%) and a total efficiency including the heat output of up to 85%

This is more than twice as efficient as the current Victorian power grid

Also uses much less water than current Victorian power stations

Origin Energy will buy back excess electricity generated by the VicUrban BlueGen units

links:

BlueGen operating at Aurora - one of Australia's largest sustainable communities

BlueGen operating at Aurora - A Presentation

Energy Efficiency Issues Paper

There is a good photo of how a typical setup could look at your place in the presentation link.

Dang, don't you/i just love the fact we've now installed a single PV system when we could've wait-a-whiled and had a tiny combined single hot water/electricity system installed instead?  biggrin

[veebee]

wow, they DO look good... pity we dont have Natural gas here.

[Cosmicvandal]

I wonder if the extra cost of the gas/water would work out cheaper than just sticking with the standard sparks that we are given now?

[kashi]

Looks excellent, I remember seeing a report on something like this being used in some Japanese houses a while ago although it was much bigger.

No price yet for private domestic customers and no subsidies yet either. Very much better for air quality and CO₂ emissions than burning coal but gas is likely to increase in price unless a discounted gas tariff is made available if it is used to produce electricity.

Even so, depending on the cost of the unit and the future availability of a feed-in tariff it appears to have great potential for those fortunate enough to have gas available. Certainly great potential for those companies that sell gas.  biggrin

It's supposed to last 10-15 years like a hot water system as long as the water quality isn't too poor although it has filters that get replaced every year. Even at maximum water usage it would only add about $25 to yearly water bill at current rates.

It uses 9.5MJ of gas per hour at it's most efficient output of 1.5kW, that's about 6.3MJ per kWh costing 11.65c per kWh at EA gas rates, plus you may need a maintenace contract for yearly servicing and major servicing. So currently it would need generous subsidies, a feed-in tariff and possibly even a carbon tax to make it a reasonable investment for domestic users. The price of electricity would need to increase greatly relative to the price of gas for that to change. It's still consuming a non-renewable resource to make electricity but heaps better than coal, especially the brown stuff used in Victoria.

It must operate at a very high temperature because it takes a day to heat up and 3 days to cool down. Because heat is produced continuously perhaps it would be a great way to power a hydronic heating system.

[Vajras]

Two CFU press releases out today

CSIRO Report on BlueGen Emissions Savings

CSIRO Report confirms Large Carbon Savings from BlueGen

Interesting comparison from the report:

"...The average household in Victoria produces around 10.7 tonnes of greenhouse gas
emissions each year from energy used in the home.

A home with a BlueGen unit can offset all of these carbon emissions – and more.

CSIRO determines that a 2-kilowatt BlueGen unit can save up to 33
tonnes of carbon dioxide a year when replacing power derived from brown coal.

By comparison, a home with a 2-kilowatt solar panel using the grid as a back-up can
save 3.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year...."

[Dingo]

Can you have both solar and this system so that you return more to the grid ???

[Vajras]

Good Q - have absolutely no idea but can see one reason why not - the powers-that-be. Perhaps tonight's ABC 7:30 Report will shed more light on why the feds are not supporting it.

BRENDAN DOW CEO: "The main barriers in Australia are really the engagement with utilities here, their ability or their willingness to pay for the electricity that householders are going to produce. One of the other barriers of course is the fact that the technology doesn't qualify as part of the renewable energy certificate schemes. The unit does reduce greenhouse gases more than putting in a similar sized solar PV system.

Now that's counter-intuitive. A system that's using natural gas, so a non-renewable fuel, which is able to reduce greenhouse gases more than a renewable technology such as solar PV. But we think there's an opportunity for the Government to make an adjustment to the legislation that allows us on, say, a pro-rata basis to be eligible for renewable energy certificates. We are persisting with the Australian market because we are Australian."


Neco is the distributor:
http://www.neco.com.au/index.php/fuel-cell/

The product offering and pricing models for BlueGen are being finalised by Neco. As costs are higher in small volumes, early units will likely be sold to larger customers, like energy utilities and Governments, for demonstration projects. As costs come down the product will be marketed to residential customers.

So... at the moment, i would speculate that the cost of one would be more than your PV equiv. and thus not be fin. viable to do what you suggest.

[kashi]

Yes the price needs to come down a long way before it would be cost effective. Now it is at $265 per week for the first 5 years.

"The current price for a BlueGen unit including installation is around $45,000 for a 2 year contract (the same price given to the Victorian Government for 30 units).  After 2 years, users would be able to extend their contract a further 3 years at a cost of around $24,000. Further contracts will be offered after 5 years out to 15 years, with pricing dependent on fuel stack prices."

[Vajras]

Harvey Norman Commercial Division to sell BlueGen Gas-to-Electricity Generators