E.ON and FRIATEC entered into a long-term energy partnership

Solution includes Europe’s first commercial fuel cell power plant
of megawatt size in an industrial environment

July 30, 2015   + + +  E.ON’s energy solutions business E.ON Connecting Energies and FRIATEC, the specialist company for products made of non-corroding and wear-resistant materials, have entered into a long-term energy partnership, starting with a high-efficiency heat supply solution for FRIATEC’s production plant in Mannheim, Germany. E.ON will refurbish the existing heat infrastructure of the Mannheim site and plans to build, own and operate Europe’s first fuel cell power plant of megawatt (MW) size to supply the site with clean energy.

The 1.4 MW fuel cell with an electrical efficiency of 47 percent will be provided by FuelCell Energy Solutions. The fuel cell will meet approximately 60 percent of the power needs of FRIATEC’s production processes in Mannheim. Overall, the E.ON solution will save FRIATEC up to 46 percent electrical energy each year, and it will lead to a CO2 reduction of approximately 3,000 tons annually.

In addition to that, E.ON Connecting Energies and FuelCell Energy Solutions have agreed to collaborate in order to offer decentralized combined heat and power solutions with fuel cell power plants up to multi-megawatt-scale to existing and prospective customers. This opens up additional opportunities for large scale power users that require continuous power from a reliable and highly environmentally friendly source at competitive cost.

Robert Hienz, CEO of E.ON Connecting Energies: “We are delighted to install the first commercial MW-class fuel cell in Europe in an industrial environment. This case shows how high-efficiency technologies can grow mature and serve real customer needs, such as reducing CO2 emissions by around 25 percent, and significantly cut energy cost as a production factor.”

Klaus Wolf, CEO of FRIATEC: “Our production-processes require a large amount of power and heat, so we are very happy to have the opportunity to utilize fuel cells to generate these necessities as efficiently and as cleanly as possible to advance our environmentally-friendly production processes.”

Chip Bottone, President and CEO of FuelCell Energy: “We are pleased to be partnering with leading energy provider E.ON Connecting Energies to accelerate the deployment of multi-megawatt fuel cell power plants. This agreement introduces our globally proven power plants to new geographies and customers that are interested in highly efficient and virtually emission free distributed power generation solutions.”

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E.ON Connecting Energies is a member of E.ON Group and specializes in integrated energy solutions for industrial, commercial and public-sector customers. The company designs, finances, installs and operates systems and equipment that deliver lasting reductions in energy consumption and CO2 emissions as well as life-time cost savings.

FRIATEC is a member of the ALIAXIS group with headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. ALIAXIS is the worldwide largest producer of plastic pipe systems for the construction industry and utilities. FRIATEC offers innovative solutions, e.g. jointing technology for pipe systems, high-performance ceramics and special pumps for aggressive, volatile or explosive media.

FuelCell Energy Solutions is the sales, manufacturing and service business for the European Served Area for FuelCell Energy, Inc. Administrative offices are located in Dresden, and manufacturing operations are located in Ottobrun. FuelCell Energy Solutions is a joint venture between Fraunhofer IKTS and FuelCell Energy.

Source: E.ON