Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation has announced what is claimed to be the largest demonstration in Europe of the Westinghouse (now Siemens Westinghouse) tubular solid oxide fuel cell technology. It has entered into a consortium agreement with four major European utilities to provide the first MW scale hybrid plant to be demonstrated as a pre-commercial plant for the European market. The project will be funded under the Framework Five Program of the EC and also as part of the US Department of Energy Cooperative Development Agreement that Siemens Westinghouse has with the US DOE. Energie Baden-Württenberg AG will be the host utility at their facility in Marbach, Germany; Electricité de France and Gaz de France will participate in providing and coordinating the microturbine and the balance of the plant system along with Tiroler Wasserkraftwerke Antiengesellschaft of Austria.
20 per cent of the 1 MW output will be provided by a microturbine, with the balance coming from a scaled up version of the existing SOFC technology. The demonstration is scheduled to start in 2003 and will operate for at least 12 months. The ultimate objective is to have commercial systems in the 250 to 1000 kW range being delivered by 2004.