Boston, MA 07/24/2014 (wallstreetpr) – The U.S Federal Grant
FuelCell Energy has been awarded $3.5 million in federal grants to develop a fuel cell that convert renewable biogas or natural gas to methanol. The U.S Energy department had initiated this grant so that FuelCell would team up with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Connecticut to develop methanol which is cheaper to store and transport.
Innovating to Electrochemical Reactor Technology
The U.S Energy Department is aggressively pursuing efforts to develop an electrochemical reactor technology that would produce on site hydrogen instead of local plants that need transportation of the hydrogen. As part of this program, the Energy Department has granted $900K to FuelCell to develop such a technology. FuelCell will research and build advanced technology that makes production of hydrogen at sites rather large productions units.
Could be a Breakeven Year
Investors were disappointed with FuelCell performance in the second quarter in which the company posted $38.3 million loss in revenues. However, FuelCell Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FCEL) has at present a huge backlog at its hands compounded from existing and new orders. Also, FuelCell has plans to increase its production of 70MW of fuel cells per year to 80 MW. With this increase, FuelCell forecasts revenues about $55 million in each of the remaining quarters of 2014. With such positive activities in progress, the company hopes to breakeven in this fiscal year 2014.
The German Support
Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy has announced allocation of 4.9 million Euros to for development of highly efficient and quick to build power plants driven by FuelCell technology. As part of this program, FuelCell Energy, GmbH and Joint Venture Partner IKTS would work together to produce highly efficient fuel cells that will make possible design of clean, efficient and reliable fuel cell plants. The program is aimed at addressing power generation challenging Germany and many other European countries. Also, the byproduct employment generation is of immense interest to Germany. FuelCell Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FCEL) hopes to work on single platform with other groups involved in the stake to develop fuel cell technology that will be profitable for all.
