Ausgrid Results Announcement

Monday 6 February 2012 RNS REACH Announcement

Ceramic Fuel Cells' BlueGen produces six times more electricityper day than solar PV during Sydney "Smart Home's" first year

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (AIM / ASX: CFU) - a leading developer of high efficiency and low emission electricity generation products for homes and other buildings - today announced that its BlueGen gas-to-electricity unit had created nearly twice as much electricity than Sydney's Newington "Smart Home" had needed during the home's first 18 months of operation.

Ausgrid's energy efficiency expert Paul Myors said an analysis of energy use and generation at the smart home showed it was producing enough electricity to power two average households.

"The fuel cell used gas and waste heat to produce most of the on-site power, but with 65 per cent less greenhouse gas impact than power sourced from the grid," he said.

The 1.5 kilowatt BlueGen unit - combined with a conventional 1 kilowatt rooftop solar system and a 0.5 kilowatt solar pergola system - produced an average 32 kilowatt hours of electricity per day. Of this, the BlueGen unit produced an average of 28 kilowatt hours per day, while the average solar output was 4 kilowatt hours per day.

Importantly, the BlueGen unit saved 6,950 kilograms of carbon dioxide during the year from November 2010 to October 2011 when compared to greenhouse emissions from electricity from the NSW grid.

This was nearly five times the carbon emission savings from the Smart Home's solar PV unit, which saved 1,470 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

The family charged the home's car - a new Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric vehicle - an average of eight times per month and drove it for more than 5,000 kilometres on Sydney's roads. The electric car added an average 2.5 kilowatt hours a day to the home's electricity use. Ausgrid found the electric car would have been about 75 per cent cheaper that a comparable petrol car to run. This is because it was only charged after 8pm when times of use electricity rates are cheaper.

"The Smart Home in essence has become a fully functioning power station," Mr Myors said. "This has been a great experiment to test how families use new technology and efficient appliances, so we can see what will help households use energy and water efficiently in the future."

Following the first BlueGen installed in the Smart Home, last year Ausgrid ordered 25 BlueGen units as part of the AUD 100m 'Smart Grid, Smart City' project. These 25 BlueGens are now installed and operating in homes in Newcastle, New South Wales.

The first Smart Home family - Clare Joyce, Michael Adams and their daughter Ava, dubbed "The Jetsons' - left the Smart Home at the end of January after an 18-month trial of energy efficient living.

ENDS

About Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited:

Ceramic Fuel Cells is a world leader in developing fuel cell technology to generate highly efficient and low-emission electricity from widely available natural gas. Ceramic Fuel Cells has sold its BlueGen gas-to-electricity generator to major utilities and other foundation customers in Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Australia, and the USA. Ceramic Fuel Cells is also developing fully integrated power and heating products with leading energy companies E.ON UK in the United Kingdom, GdF Suez in France and EWE in Germany.

The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM market and the Australian Securities Exchange (code CFU).

www.cfcl.com.au