IndiJo,The fact it has taken so long to fix proves they did not...

IndiJo,

The fact it has taken so long to fix proves they did not have the fix and were biding their time. If they had the fix and the big furnaces were not required, they would simply have not spent the cash (€1.2m) to try and fix them by end of July 2011 and now August 2012, they would have waited until after the fundraising this year, maybe to sometime late next year, then pulled the trigger.

Look at the backlog, 400-500 Bluegens waiting to be built. Maybe in April the build rate was not affecting production by much, but it sure has mounted up to a huge backlog which they cannot deliver, so won't be paid for.

A big furnace also reduces cost through energy efficiency, because one big furnace can cure several (12?) stacks at a time, a small furnace can only cure one stack.

The main point is that without the big furnaces curing stacks en masse 'to acceptable quality standards', then CFU will remain a cottage industry producing 312 stacks per year at high cost and it will never survive. That is the point between taking the offer or holding back to find out if they can actually fix the big furnace issue, as promised continually over the last 24 months, but not delivered.

http://www.wspgroup.com/JVWebsites/CEL/projects/cfcl.htm