Austria invests in multi-MW biogas powered stationary fuel cell CHP

A record-setting agreement for a total investment $500 million in stationary fuel cell combined heat and power has been made by Austria. This is one of the largest agreements to date in the stationary fuel cell industry, and anaerobic biological gasification will provide the cost-effective fuel for the fuel cell CHP.

Güssing Renewable Energy GmbH has selected ClearEdge to meet its target of producing 50 MW of clean distributed energy generation from fuel cells in the Republic of Austria by 2020. The agreement will see Güssing sell, install and service the fuel cells with 8.5 MW to be installed in the next three years with a further 41.5 MW installed by 2020.

Güssing Renewable Energy is based in the Austrian town of the same name, which was the EU’s first communities to renewably produce 100% of its energy.

Güssing Renewable Energy offers customisable turnkey renewable energy production solutions for communities. "With its flexible and modular power systems, ClearEdge Power has developed a distributed energy solution that will fundamentally change the way people receive power,” said Michael Dichand, Chairman, Güssing Renewable Energy. “We see these fuel cell systems as the perfect complement to our sustainably cultivated biomass facilities and are pleased to be able to partner with a forward-thinking company like ClearEdge Power as we aggressively move to achieve our clean energy goals.”

“This is a very significant milestone for both ClearEdge Power and the stationary fuel cell market,” said ClearEdge Power President and CEO, Russell Ford. “Güssing Renewable Energy is at the cutting-edge of environmental sustainability and an agreement of this magnitude further validates the role that scalable, continuous onsite power systems will play in the transition to a carbon-neutral society. This contract also adds on to our strong growth in North America and provides the perfect platform for us to continue to expand our international operations.”

Headquartered in the Austrian town of Güssing, Güssing Renewable Energy offers instantly usable carbon-neutral solutions that help communities produce clean, reliable energy. These solutions include proven anaerobic technology that can convert organic mass into high-purity biogas that can be used to cleanly and cost-effectively generate electric power and heat in fuel cells like the ClearEdge systems. Under the agreement with ClearEdge Power, Güssing Renewable Energy has agreed to sell, install and service ClearEdge systems in Austria and also has the opportunity to foster adoption within Western European markets. The agreement is designed to support the installation of 8.5 MW of fuel cell systems in Austria over the next 36 months, which will then rise to 50 MW by 2020.

For background see the YouTube clip ‘Güssing as a Model for regional Economic Improvement’