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First fully funded BlueGEN programme in conjunction with iPower

24 Nov 2014

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (ASX/AIM: CFU) is pleased to announce the commencement of the first fully funded BlueGEN programme, where the BlueGEN is installed at no cost to the end user. The programme, comprising a 100kW fleet of BlueGENs (a minimum of 65 units) is targeted primarily at public sector organisations that can take advantage of the significant carbon and energy savings BlueGEN has to offer.

The innovative funding structure allows BlueGENs to be installed in end user premises at no upfront cost. End users pay for the costs of gas and BlueGEN maintenance and receive the benefits of the electricity generated and the heat recovered for hot water.

This programme has been developed and will be run by one of CFCL’s UK distributors, iPower Energy Limited (iPower).

iPower has also confirmed its interest in developing a second, larger programme with CFCL in the second half of calendar year 2015. These discussions will include various new appraisals and opportunity pipeline assessments which are expected to take place in parallel with the delivery of this first programme.

The terms of the agreement signed with iPower are conditional on drawdown from a facility provided by a 3rd party funder. iPower will make a deposit of £350,000 (A$636,000) which is expected to be received by CFCL early in December. In order to meet the criteria imposed by the 3rd party funding provider, iPower has secured formal confirmations of interest from participating end users for a majority of the installations.

Bob Kennett, CEO of CFCL, commented, “Earlier this year we announced our intention to revise our sales strategy in order to focus primarily on larger scale projects. We are very pleased to see the first of a number of projects of this type come to fruition. It clearly demonstrates the commercial viability of this contractual structure whereby 3rd party funding is used to support the project and provide end users with attractive benefits.”
Jon Cape, MD of iPower, commented, “iPower is delighted to be working with CFCL on this ground-breaking initiative. The programme is able to provide customers with net savings of 20-40% on the cost of energy displaced by the BlueGEN with no upfront cost and we see strong potential to progress to a substantially larger Stage 2 Programme for which we are already in dialogue with prospective funding partners.”