| UTC Power’s PureCell™ Unit Delivers Continuous Power During Grid Outage
SOUTH WINDSOR, Conn. (December 13, 2005) – A UTC Power PureCell™ 200 fuel cell unit in Dinslaken, Germany, continued to operate and supply electricity despite 75 grid disturbances that occurred because of a sudden winter freeze in parts of northern Germany prompting power to be cut off over the Thanksgiving weekend. UTC Power, the world leader in developing and manufacturing fuel cells for onsite power, transportation and space flight applications, is a company of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX)
The winter weather caused massive power outages due to heavy snowfalls and ice buildup on transmission lines throughout parts of northern Europe that left a quarter of a million people without electricity in the North-Rhine Westphalia state of Germany. Customers served by the PureCell™ 200 fuel cell unit never lost power despite the severe weather.
The UTC Power PureCell™ 200 unit was commissioned in September 2003 and was installed in conjunction with a district heating system in Dinslaken, which is outside Essen. The unit has logged more than 15,000 hours of operation since the commissioning. Power is put on the public municipal utility grid, serving 73,000 people. The waste heat from the fuel cell is used to augment the district heating system providing uninterrupted service to half a million residential users who are supplied by this power source.
“The continuous performance of this PureCell™ 200 fuel cell unit illustrates the outstanding reliability of our products even in the harshest conditions,” said UTC Power President Jan van Dokkum. “This is just another excellent example of the durability and assured power performance of our products and the long-term benefits offered to our customers.”
Clean and energy-efficient, the PureCell™ 200 is a combined heat and power unit that produces 200kW of electricity and up to 925,000 BTU/hr of heat. With the capacity to operate grid-connected or grid-independent, it transitions power instantaneously with no interruption in service. The system also meets the strictest emission standards and operates quietly on site. Globally, UTC Power has installed more than 275 PureCell™ 200 units with more than 1 billion kilowatt hours of operating time. The PureCell™ 200 has an overall efficiency of more than 80 percent in combined heat and power mode, compared with 30 percent for the electric grid. Because power is generated onsite, transmission losses such as those experienced in Germany are avoided.
United Technologies Corp., based in Hartford, Conn., provides high-technology products and services to the commercial building and aerospace industries. Its UTC Power unit, based in South Windsor, Conn., includes UTC Fuel Cells and is a full-service provider of environmentally advanced power solutions. With more than 40 years of experience, UTC Power is the world's leading developer and producer of fuel cells for onsite power, transportation and space flight applications, and a developer of innovative combined cooling, heating and power applications in the distributed energy market. |
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