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CFU - Ceramic Fuel Cells

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New announcement that is positive but i dont like it.

http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20091002/pdf/31l40zz3p1fpnc.pdf

" announces today that a leading Australian energy utility has agreed to install a BlueGen gas-to-electricity generator in a showcase sustainability home."

Why couldn't you tell us which utility it is. We know Vicurban is goin to install blugen units by the end of this year, but it doesnt mean its this utility that there talkin about.

"Under the agreement with the utility Ceramic Fuel Cells will supply a BlueGen unit for a six month demonstration, beginning in February 2010."

So is it VicUrban? February 2010 is a long way for short term investors. Well its good atleast we know CFU sold 1 unit in feb 10. :

Hopefully we get more orders when the announcement for factory opening. SP at 27c-30c is CFU true value when these announcements come out, i think.
 
Got smashed today, would have liked to buy more but portfolio already weight to heavily on this share. Gone from a short trade to a long term investment. I believe this company has a lot to offer and is a shame that our government does not support companies like this more, instead support polluting coal industries. Easier to dig something out of the ground than support true innovation.

Cheers
 
so it is,

2 October 2009


CERAMIC FUEL CELLS OPENS HIGH VOLUME FUEL CELL MANUFACTURING PLANT



Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (AIM / ASX: CFU) a leading developer of high efficiency and low emission power products for homes, today officially opened its high volume manufacturing plant, one of the first in the world for the volume production of solid oxide fuel cell stacks.


Ceramic Fuel Cells makes fuel cell 'modules' which appliance companies can integrate into different products for many large global markets. The first products to be powered by the Company's fuel cells will be compact generators for homes and other buildings that produce low emission power as well as heat for hot water or space heating. These products will meet the growing need for energy whilst also reducing greenhouse gas emissions.


The manufacturing plant is located in an existing 4,200m2 building in the Industriepark Oberbruch, 40 minutes' drive from Dusseldorf in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany.


The plant has a design capacity of 10,000 fuel cell stacks per year. Ceramic Fuel Cell's investment in the plant construction, including state of the art automated manufacturing equipment, will total 9.5 million Euros. All pieces of equipment have been commissioned on-site and are operational.


The plant was officially opened by Dr Jens Baganz, State Secretary for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, before more than 100 invited guests, including Government representatives and key customers, suppliers, investors and media.


State Secretary Dr. Baganz welcomed the start of fuel cell production in Heinsberg: "Fuel cells with high efficiency are a key technology of the future with significant economic potential. In Oberbruch it is now possible that a future industry can be developed. Given the global challenges of climate change, there are very promising market opportunities for fuel cell technology."


Ceramic Fuel Cells Chairman Mr Jeff Harding said: "On behalf of the Board of Ceramic Fuel Cells, we are delighted to open our factory in Heinsberg, Germany. This is an important milestone for the Company because it allows us to move from making expensive 'hand built' products to making semi-automated manufactured products at commercially competitive costs, and reflects two years' work from our staff and key suppliers. We look forward to our Heinsberg plant making fuel cell stacks to go into our clean energy products for Europe, Australia and other global markets."

JUST ANNOUNCED LONDON
 
Both announcements made after the ASX market close. So the drop in price (2 Oct) is not because of the announcements, it was a pretty sad day mostly all round. Monday will be interesting, buying on Friday may prove to have been good timing.
I think the Factory opening announcement was late in the day on the London market too.
 
Company Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited
TIDM CFU
Headline HIGH VOLUME FUEL CELL MANUFACTURING PLANT OPENS
Released 12:29 02-Oct-2009

Can confirm the time of the announcement 12:29, that's midday.
In London trading, if you can call it that, i don't believe there were 50 trades,
all day, CFU finished down -4.54%, that despite them being great fans of the stock in the past.
So wait and see if Monday is a better day.
Just a reminder too that Monday is labour day holiday for a lot of Australia,
but not Melbourne Vic.
Rumor is trading will be on the light side.
 

Thanks frankblack for the clarification on announcement release time. No holiday in the west on Monday either.
 
Had a listen to their webcast on the CFCL site news page. From the Heinsberg factory Brendan Dow mentions "distribution and utility partners selling products to their customers.. ..some further announcements in the not too distant future"
I suppose that means over the next month or two ...or three.

http://www.cfcl.com.au/webcasts/
 
frankblack said:
So wait and see if Monday is a better day.
Just a reminder too that Monday is labour day holiday for a lot of Australia,
but not Melbourne Vic.
Rumor is trading will be on the light side.
Click to expand...
Futures are looking down across the board also, will be interesting to see if CFU can buck the trend on this news, though I think it may be another day for the bears.

Plenty of small caps have been sold down beyond the overall market, once the market trend changes we should see some strong upward swings all round.

cheers
 
Personally i think CFU is way cheap. If the share price only goes up from here, i am happy. Anyway CFU still has a long way to go.
 
frankblack said:
Personally i think CFU is way cheap. If the share price only goes up from here, i am happy. Anyway CFU still has a long way to go.
Click to expand...

Cfu are on a big wave; hang on for da ride. Automated Plant in Germany is up and running today to produce 10,000 BluGen sets per year with capacity to up the anti to 160,000.
 
Ceramic Fuel Cells opens Germany plant
TOP News


" Melbourne-based alternative energy company Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd (CFC) has opened its large-scale fuel cell manufacturing plant in Germany.

CFC is developing solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology to provide energy efficient and low-emission electricity from natural gas and renewable fuels.

The company is currently making fuel cell "modules", which appliance companies can integrate into various product.

The first products to be powered by the company's fuel cells will be compact generators for homes and other buildings that produce low-emission power as well as heat for hot water or space heating.

"These product will meet the growing need for energy whilst also reducing greenhouse gas emissions," CFC said in a statement on Monday.

Chairman Jeff Harding said opening the factory in Heinsberg, Germany, was an important milestone for the company because it allows the move from making expensive "hand built" products to making semi-automated manufactured products at commercially competitive costs.

"We look forward to our Heinsberg plant making fuel cell stacks to go into our clean energy products for Europe, Australia and other global markets," Mr Harding said.

The plant has a design capacity of 10,000 fuel cell stacks per year and to meet future growth the plant can be expanded to a capacity of up to 160,000 fuel cell stacks per year, the company said.

CFC was formed in 1992 by Australia's Commonwealth Science and Industry Research Organisation (CSIRO) and a consortium of energy and industrial companies.

The company is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
 
Sounds like CFC have a new MD, "Brendan Gow"

Ceramic Fuel Cells

Some companies should prove resilient however, including Ceramic Fuel Cells, which has pioneered a way to introduce cheap electricity into the home. Most fuel cell companies are still at the experimental stage.

Ceramic Fuel Cells (CFC) has already begun to manufacture products and has agreements in place with leading utility groups, such as EWE inGermany, Gaz de France and Paloma of Japan. The company has also signed a contract with UK energy provider, E.On to create a special product for the British market.

CFC has two basic products, one of which provides heat, hot water and electricity for the home - a combined heat and power unity - and the other of which provides heat and electricity. The combined units are being developed in partnership with various utility companies but the heat and electricity units have been launched independently by CFC. Known as BlueGen boxes, the units are about the same size as a dishwasher.

They generate electricity using natural gas so they are not entirely 'green' but they are much more efficient than mainstream commercial generators, converting each kilowatt of gas into 0.6 kilowatts of electricity, compared to conventional conversion rates of 0.4. This means they use less gas so energy bills are lower.

BlueGen boxes are not cheap to buy. Coming on the market in Britain next year, they will probably set early users back by £7000 but they do pay their way. Each year, they make around two and a half times more electricity than the average home needs and this can be sold back to the National Grid.

CFC is based in Australia and run by chief executive Brendan Gow, whose career has spanned manufacturing and investment banking both domestically and overseas. Chairman Julian Dinsdale has spent 30 years working with high-tech companies and helping them to turn their ideas into commercial ventures.

The company is enthusiastically supported in the City, particularly since it adopted a two-pronged approach to market, developing the BlueGen product independently and the combined heat and power unit in partnership with utilities. Many of these big energy companies have been dragging their heels over the introduction of the new units into the home but the recent launch of BlueGen should engender some competitive tension and encourage them to move more quickly.

Gow hopes to sell up to 500 BlueGen boxes next year and begin to roll out the combined units too. The company is talking to smaller utility groups, white goods manufacturers and retailers and sales should pick up substantially over the next two to three years.

Midas verdict: Ceramic Fuel Cells has had an eventful year. The company joined Aim in 2006 and asked an external fund manager to look after the money it raised. This manager put CFC's money into assets such as allegedly top-rate mortgage bonds, the value of which collapsed in the wake of the credit crunch. CFC was forced to seek emergency funding and its shares fell to below 3p. But shareholders supported the group, it now has plenty of money in the bank and the stock has risen to 15p. Even at this level, there is plenty of potential. Virtually every country in the world is looking for ways to be more environmentally friendly. CFC has not only pioneered a unique technology but it is already turning that technology into viable, commercial products, on sale today. The company is expected to move into profit by 2012 and the shares should rise steadily between now and then. Buy.
 
Over in the UK they are trialling the connection of sewage treatment plants to the LNG pipes. This means that instead of Methane escaping to the atmosphere (worse than carbon apparently) it is mixed with LNG to cook your dinner.

If the trials are succesful this would bring CFU a step closer to running off "renewables" which is a bit of a stumbling block for them it seems. I'm not sure of the maths, but surely this could push BlueGen's effective at the plug efficiency a few points above the current 85%?

The people of Manchester will soon be contributing to a green energy revolution - just by flushing the loo!

In a UK first, United Utilities has teamed up with National Grid to convert a by-product of the wastewater treatment process into gas for injection into the local gas pipeline network and fuel for a fleet of sludge tankers. The ground-breaking initiative is centred on one of the country's largest wastewater treatment plants at Davyhulme in Manchester.

The scheme has been given the green light by winning funding from Defra, coming via WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme).

Caroline Ashton, United Utilities biofuels manager, said: "The team is thrilled to have won this funding which will give the project a huge boost. It has been in development for some time, but now we can put our plans into action and the people of Manchester will soon be using 'poo power' to heat their homes."

Biogas is produced when wastewater sludge is broken down by the action of microbes in a process known as "anaerobic digestion".

The biogas needs to be upgraded to biomethane which is a renewable fuel with similar properties to natural gas. The biomethane can then be safely compressed for use in vehicles or injected into the gas grid.

Caroline explained: "Sewage treatment is a 24-hour process so there is an endless supply of biogas. It is a very valuable resource and it's completely renewable. By harnessing this free energy we can reduce our fuel bills and reduce our carbon footprint."

Janine Freeman, head of National Grid's Sustainable Gas Group said: "Biomethane is a fuel for the future. Renewable electricity from sources such as wind power is already available, but this is the first time we will be able to supply renewable gas to consumers. This pilot is an important step in helping deliver a low carbon energy future.

"Not only are we reusing a waste product, but biomethane is a renewable fuel, so we helping to meet the country's target of 15% of all our energy coming from renewable sources by 2020."

"This pilot project should supply gas to about 500 homes and the overall potential of biomethane from a plant like Davyhulme would be to supply a small town of about 5,000 homes. "

The plans involve installing the upgrade equipment, a gas compression and fuelling station, plus a pipeline to link into the local gas distribution network. The £4.3 million project should be operational by early 2011.

One of United Utilities' sludge tankers has already been converted to run on diesel and compressed natural gas, and this has confirmed that a dual fuel system does not affect the engine performance of such heavy vehicles.

Caroline explained: "When we have the kit in place to utilise the gas produced on site, we should be able to save hundreds of thousands of pounds a year in fuel costs with the 24 tankers we aim to convert initially."

National Grid say there are no fundamental technical difficulties to injecting biomethane into the gas distribution network. Several plants in Europe have demonstrated this is a safe way to deliver renewable gas generated from domestic sources.

Dr Richard Swannell, Director of Retail and Organics at WRAP, said: "The United Utilities' project was chosen because it will demonstrate cutting edge technology, helping to drive the effective use of Anaerobic Digestion. Working with National Grid, the project aims be the first in the UK to process and inject biomethane into the gas grid on a commercial scale. By using biomethane as a fuel for sludge tankers it could also help our country make more widespread use of renewable energy."

To meet the conditions of the grant, the new installation at Davyhulme will be used as a demonstration plant for engineers and politicians to visit from around the world.

Caroline Ashton added: "This is just the latest exciting chapter in the story of Davyhulme. The plant was leading the world nearly 100 years ago when modern treatment processes were developed there, and it's wonderful that this kind of innovation continues today." ​
 
Yes, there seems to be a lot happening in the world of fuel cells.
From the USA
one mob want to make the same ceramic fuel cells, validating CFCLs work
http://tinyurl.com/yg54k8z
still over there, support from Obama himself, in the form of tax credits for anything.
http://tinyurl.com/yfz3z7z
Rudd and Brumby need to be made aware.
I am starting to believe that the Copenhagen meeting might be slowing things down a bit. no doubt there will need to be adjustments made to all the figures
when the out comes are known. last time around Europe made Co2 emissions cheaper, this time surely its going to be more expensive.
 
frankblack said:
Yes, there seems to be a lot happening in the world of fuel cells.
From the USA
one mob want to make the same ceramic fuel cells, validating CFCLs work
http://tinyurl.com/yg54k8z
Click to expand...

The way I read it is that the US have realised the potential of CFU's invention and are now looking for ways to get round the patent by doing the same thing using a slightly different alloy, sponsored by the government. Standard USA practice.

We are producing now however and that gives CFU a window to become a major supplier before the yanks do the usual. If CFU can get another factory open in China or Thailand before the US get their facility made then the future is assured. If we get too far ahead, I would not be surprised to see a takeover bid turn up.

The USA is good at stealing like this, look at the competitor to Cochlear.
 

I don't see CFU going to China or Thailand at all in the near future, unless a huge market opens up there. CFU are manufacturing now, right. so they must be stocking up. they are able to make up to 160 000 units where they are now, where is all the demand going to come from?
But most of all I don't see the cost of labour being a factor.

I would be very surprised to see a takeover bid turn up. Where from?
From whom? And why?
 

The 160,000 units are for the standard units.
What about the small ones to be put in cars?
What about the very large ones, there is a big market for these.

The takeover bid could be from anywhere. It depends on how good the patents are. Did you know that Australia invented the film used in water filtration plants?

A big UAS competitor took them out.
 
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