As Australia's carbon debate heats up, one company says it has a solution to offset growing energy demands. A box the size of a bar fridge could save up to 75 per cent of household power bills and significantly reduce carbon emissions, says Ceramic Fuel Cells group general manager Andrew Neilson. The Melbourne company's BlueGen fuel cell unit converts natural gas and renewable fuels into high-quality power and heat. Ceramic Fuel Cells, listed on the Australian stock exchange, supplies to governments and energy companies in Australia and overseas, including Germany, France, the UK, Japan and the United States. In Germany, one of the company's biggest customers, utility firms supply the BlueGen unit free of charge to households, which then pay for the natural gas they use. In Australia, solar energy technology can be hooked up to energy grids via a feed-in tariff, allowing the home owner to potentially earn money from their energy company. But this isn't allowed for fuel cell technologies. The restrictions make it extremely difficult to crack the residential market in Australia, Mr Neilsen says. "It's something we're lobbying the state governments about at the moment. So far, we've seen lots of nodding heads, but no action." Mr Neilson says a carbon tax will encourage the switch to gas as grid electricity becomes more expensive. "To be frank, it's a good thing for us, because it makes onsite generation from gas far more cost-effective." "It will become more economically attractive to make the switch away from grid power towards other sources. "And it does this with the highest electrical efficiency of any generating technology in the world." He says Australia's yet to grasp the full benefit as government approval has not yet been granted for a feed-in tariff for fuel cell technologies. "In Europe, they recognise feed-in tariffs for a variety of technologies including fuel cells, but in Australia we don't have that," Mr Neilson says. The Victorian government is conducting a review of feed-in tariffs, with results expected in 2012, and the NSW government also asked the Regulatory Tribunal of NSW in July to review feed-in tariffs for solar power. Ceramic Fuel Cells has called for both reviews to extend to low-emission technologies such as fuel cells. The company has decided to focus on exports because of domestic government inaction on feed-in tariffs, says Mr Neilsen. The CSIRO says a two-kilowatt BlueGen unit, currently retailing at $45,000, can save up to 33 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year when replacing power derived from brown coal. If widely implemented, the system could save governments cash, reducing the need for billions of dollars in infrastructure and also reducing carbon emissions, Mr Neilson says. The company recently won a contract to supply 25 BlueGen units to Ausgrid for installation in Australia's largest grid project, based in Newcastle, NSW. Other domestic customers include the Victorian government, Adelaide City Council and Canberra Institute of Technology. Ceramic Fuel Cells began selling BlueGen units in May 2009, and posted a loss of $8.4 million for the six months to December 31, 2010, due to a 37 per cent drop in sales revenue and the impact of a stronger Australian dollar. "We're in the process of starting to ramp up sales and that will deliver revenue to get us cash-flow positive and then ultimately profitable," Mr Neilson says. Ceramic Fuel Cells is headquartered in Melbourne, has manufacturing plants in Germany and the UK, and employs 125 staff across its business.
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