Enbridge, its utility, Enbridge Gas Distribution, and FuelCell Energy have announced the opening of what they call the world's first Direct Fuel Cell - Energy Recovery Generation™ power plant.

The 2.2 MW DFC-ERG plant is also said to be the first multi-megawatt commercial fuel cell to operate in Canada, and support for this $10 million project was provided by both the federal and provincial governments.

In March this year, the City of Toronto provided further support by enacting a by-law allowing residents and businesses to export ‘clean’ electricity to the grid.

R. Daniel Brdar, Chairman and CEO of FuelCell Energy, says: “While Toronto is the first location for a DFC-ERG power plant, approximately 18 MW of DFC-ERG power plants have been selected by the Connecticut Clean Energy fund as part of Connecticut's renewable energy RFPs. In addition, the extension of the fuel cell investment tax credit in the United States will ensure that gas utilities have an opportunity to make economical investments with this clean energy technology."

The plant will utilise Satcon Technology Corporation's 1.2 MW fuel cell power conditioning system.

How does DFC-ERG work?

Natural gas travels long distances in pipelines at high pressure. Before it can be safely distributed to homes and businesses, the pressure must be reduced. Normally this is done by squeezing the gas through a valve. Since this process causes the gas to cool, it is usually preheated using gas-fired boilers to maintain reliable deliveries of gas to consumers.

Instead of using a valve which wastes the pressure energy, the DFC-ERG power plant directs the high-pressure gas through a turbo expander, which harvests the waste energy for power generation much like a wind or water turbine. The integration of the fuel cell more than doubles the amount of low-impact electricity that is delivered to the electricity grid, and the non-combustion heat from the fuel cell eliminates the need for the boiler and its emissions.

DFC-ERG hybrid fuel cell plants are said to offer unparalleled efficiency gains. The distributed generation technology obtains its high efficiencies by operating 24 hours a day as a combined heat and power plant, but it is unique in that it converts more than 60% of the input energy into high-value electricity. This is almost double the fuel to electricity conversion efficiency of many distributed generation technologies, according to Enbridge.

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