The Gyeonggi Green Energy fuel cell park, located in Hwasung City, South Korea, is fully operational. The largest fuel cell park in the world, the facility consists of 21 FuelCell Energy DFC3000® power plants, rated at 2.8 megawatts each, requiring only about 5.1 acres of land for 59 megawatts of new and renewable power.
The fuel cell park provides continuous baseload electricity to the South Korean electric grid and usable high quality heat for a district heating system. POSCO Energy commenced construction on this project in November 2012 and finished in only 13 months, illustrating the ability to rapidly construct multi-megawatt fuel cell installations that enhance grid resiliency.
"The scale of this installation is contributing to the power and heating needs of an urban population and generating the electricity in a highly efficient and ultra-low emission profile that supports our National renewable portfolio standard," said Tae-Ho Lee, Chief Executive Officer at Gyeonggi Green Energy.
In order to meet the accelerating market demand in Asia, FuelCell Energy sold two 1.4 megawatt and three 300 kilowatt fuel cell modules to POSCO Energy during the first quarter of 2014. These modules are in addition to the monthly fuel cell kit shipments under an existing 122 megawatt order that was signed in October 2012.
"These module purchases are providing us the ability to meet additional demand above and beyond our existing fuel cell kit orders," said Jung-Gon Kim, Senior Vice President of POSCO Energy. "We are pursuing combined heat and power opportunities with building applications as well as a demonstration project at a liquefied natural gas terminal to efficiently convert boil-off natural gas to ultra-clean power."
Seoul City, South Korea continues to adopt new and renewable power generation to reduce dependence on nuclear power including the recent groundbreaking for the 19.6 megawatt Godeok Rolling Stock Management Office fuel cell park, consisting of seven DFC3000® fuel cell power plants that each provide 2.8 megawatts of power.
The fuel cell park is adjacent to a railroad depot operated by the Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation. The ultra-clean electricity will be supplied to the electric grid and the usable high quality heat supplied to a district heating system. In the event of an electrical grid disruption or outage, the electricity from the fuel cell park will provide power to the railroad depot.
The power output is adequate to power approximately 45,000 South Korean households. The fuel cell power plants will be supplied by POSCO Energy using licensed technology and fuel cell components manufactured by FuelCell Energy. The fuel cell park is expected to be operational by the end of 2014.
"Both of these fuel cell parks illustrate how our distributed power generation solutions enhance the resiliency of the electric grid with baseload power delivered in an environmentally friendly manner," said Chip Bottone, President and Chief Executive Officer, FuelCell Energy, Inc.
