Rep. Elizabeth Esty Applauds FuelCell Energy's $3.5 million Award from the Department of Energy

Press Release

Today, Rep. Elizabeth Esty applauded FuelCell Energy, Inc. of Danbury for receiving a $3.5 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy's ARPA-E program. As part of the ARPA-E's new Reliable Electricity Based on Electrochemical Systems (REBELS) program, this grant supports the development of technology that converts natural gas or renewable biogas to methanol while also generating electricity.

The $3.5 million award is the second award FuelCell Energy received this week. On Tuesday, FuelCell received a $900,000 award from the Department of Energy to cleanly and cost-effectively convert natural gas and electricity into hydrogen.

"Connecticut businesses are leading the way in developing innovative technology to boost our energy resiliency and security," Esty said. "I congratulate FuelCell Energy for winning the two Department of Energy awards this week. It's a testament to their innovative work and to the talent of Connecticut workers. These awards will help develop technology that's good for our environment and our economy, while supporting long-term economic growth in our state. Congratulations again to the entire FuelCell team."

"We are actively pursuing new applications for our technology with partners such as the University of Connecticut, and these two awards from the U.S. Department of Energy support our research and development efforts to help solve energy challenges," said Tony Leo, Vice President Applications and Advanced Technology Development, FuelCell Energy, Inc. "Our stationary fuel cell power plant technology is very versatile, enabling us to pursue exciting potential solutions for cost effectively converting gas-to-liquids and cleanly generating hydrogen. Utilizing the Connecticut fuel cell talent we have at FuelCell Energy and the University of Connecticut will help us pursue those challenges."

Using the REBELS project award of $3.5 million, FuelCell Energy will work with the University of Connecticut and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to develop a fuel cell stack capable of converting natural gas or renewable biogas to methanol, a liquid, while also generating electricity. The technology will address ARPA-E's interest in efficient power production and liquid fuel production from methane sources such as biomass. Liquid methanol is more cost effective to store and transport than gas. For example, oil production is often in remote areas. The natural gas that frequently accompanies the oil extraction process is sometimes flared, wasting a resource and generating pollutants. Cost-effectively converting that gas into a liquid that can then be transported more easily supports energy, environmental and economic policy goals.

The $900,000 award will support a project that utilizes FuelCell Energy's current technology in reverse to cleanly and cost-effectively convert natural gas and electricity into hydrogen with very little carbon emissions. Hydrogen is an energy storage medium that can be used for a variety of purposes, including transportation, industrial uses, or converting back into power at a later point in time. In this project, FuelCell Energy is developing a unique electrochemical reactor based on its commercial carbonate fuel cell stack. While its stacks typically make electricity from methane fuel like natural gas or renewable biogas, the new application will convert the methane to hydrogen. The electrolysis reaction will also separate the hydrogen from other products (like carbon and oxygen) and provide a pure hydrogen stream absent of pollutants that is low-cost and minimizes carbon emissions.

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