FuelCell Energy Announces Municipal Application of Affordable and Highly Efficient Fuel Cell Power Generation

FuelCell Energy, Inc.  (Nasdaq:FCEL), a global leader in the design, manufacture, operation and service of ultra‐clean, efficient and reliable fuel cell power plants, announced the execution of a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the City of Tulare, California to install a 2.8 megawatt combined heat and power (CHP) Direct FuelCell® (DFC®) power plant at the Tulare Waste Water Treatment Facility.  FuelCell Energy will install, operate and maintain the power plant, selling power and heat as it is produced to the City of Tulare. The plant is expected to be operational by summer 2017. 

“We are projecting savings in excess of half a million dollars a year, benefiting Tulare taxpayers while enhancing the reliability of power supply from on-site power,” said Joe Carlini, Director Public Works, City of Tulare.  “My team and I particularly appreciate the clean emission profile of fuel cells as Tulare is committed to doing our part for the environment while controlling operating costs.”

“Waste water treatment facilities are an attractive market for our easy-to-site fuel cell power plants as we help our customers reduce their operating costs,” said Chip Bottone, Chief Executive Officer, FuelCell Energy, Inc.  “We are also pleased to be working with the City of Tulare again as this installation follows a smaller fuel cell project, expanding our relationship with the city for many years to come.”

The City of Tulare operates a state-of-the art waste water treatment facility that primarily treats effluent from a number of large milk processing facilities.  Anaerobic digesters are used to break down the organic waste and prevent harmful methane emissions as opposed to some waste water treatment processors that utilize open pools allowing for the escape of methane emissions.  The fuel cells will power the waste water processes and the heat generated by the fuel cell power generation process will be supplied to the anaerobic digesters. 

Over the past decade California’s San Joaquin Valley, one of the most productive agricultural regions globally, has been in severe non-attainment under the Federal Clean Air Act.  In recent years, a commitment to emissions reduction has improved the air quality.  FuelCell Energy’s DFC power plants, which convert fuel to power electrochemically rather than through combustion, emit virtually no criteria air pollutants and are exempt from air permitting.  In addition, the fuel cell power plant at the Tulare Waste Water Treatment Facility will reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 11,400 tons each year as compared to the US grid, which is equivalent to removing more than 2,000 cars from the road.

About FuelCell EnergyDirect FuelCell® power plants are generating ultra-clean, efficient and reliable power on three continents, affordably providing continuous distributed power generation to a variety of industries including utilities, commercial and municipal customers.  The Company’s power plants have generated billions of kilowatt hours of ultra-clean power using a wide variety of fuels including renewable biogas from wastewater treatment and food processing, as well as clean natural gas.  For additional information, please visit www.fuelcellenergy.com and follow us on Twitter.

Direct FuelCell, DFC, DFC/T, DFC-H2, DFC-ERG and FuelCell Energy logo are all registered trademarks of FuelCell Energy, Inc.

Contact: 
FuelCell Energy, Inc.
Kurt Goddard, Vice President Investor Relations
203-830-7494
[e-mail]