FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCEL) Secures 121.8 MW Order from South Korean Partner POSCO Energy Valued at $181M

FuelCell Energy, the Danbury, Connecticut-based designer, manufacturer, and operator/servicer of ultra-clean, highly efficient, and extremely reliable stationary fuel cell power plants for a variety of distributed generation roles, reported an order today valued at roughly $181M (multi-year contract) for 121.8MW of fuel cell kits and services via POSCO Energy, FCEL’s partner in South Korea.

This comes as a result of POSCO Energy’s recent engagement under contract to execute on a joint-owned and developed 58.8MW fuel cell park project designed to meet targets set by South Korea’s ambitious 2012 RPS (renewable portfolio standard). The hardware will be manufactured at FCEL’s production facility over in Torrington, CT, from which the company’s over 50 global installations and 1B kWh of generated power (300MW of generation capacity installed or in backlog) have come in the form of their revolutionary Direct FuelCell® (DFC) power plants.

Senior VP at POSCO, Jung-Gon Kim, noted how this massive order would help meet growing demand in South Korea and other Asian markets, with the bulk of the hardware going to offset RPS targets via the 58.8MW fuel cell park and other renewable power projects. Mr. Kim emphasized that construction would start before the year is out and with the first delivery of equipment slated for May 2013 (to ensure a steady supply stream of kits as deliveries under the existing 70MW order end in the preceding April), the widespread demand for virtually emission free, super-efficient fuel cell power generation in South Korea will begin to see traction as earlier as next year.

This kind of exposure is a huge boon for FCEL and the 1.4MW fuel cell kits they have developed are highly prized for their modularity and interchangeability. The product can be stacked up all the way to megawatt class installations or simply used for sub-megawatt generation projects, a great advantage for fuel cell-based implementations, as they can be relatively small at first and then simply be upgraded as more units are added to the generation matrix. Power from this fuel cell park will be sold directly into the grid and the facility will even harness the ambient, otherwise wasted heat energy for sale to the district heating system.

Exciting times for fuel cells in Asia as government agencies move to develop green-industry that will support economic robustness in rudimentary systems like power generation. Even more exciting times for FCEL shareholders who stand to profit handsomely as the company’s already established fuel cell power plants capture the zeitgeist perfectly. Fuel cell energy from DFC plants offers clear efficiency advantages over other forms of distributed generation, with up to 90% overall efficiency in combined heat and power applications.

President and CEO of FCEL, Chip Bottone, quite pleased with what is the largest order ever received by the company and industry, hailed the deal as a real milestone. This order almost triples the company’s backlog and has tipped off a planned increase in production capacity for 2013, driven by strong market acceptance in South Korea, as well as the larger Asian market taken as a whole. Bottone characterized the power generation and job creation model as something which should be emulated globally, and with this kind of revolutionary technology at our fingertips, it is not hard to see that the future is very bright indeed for FCEL.

To learn more about FuelCell Energy, visit www.FuelCellEnergy.com

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