PG&E contracted FuelCell Energy to install the DFC1500™ molten carbonate fuel cell plants at California State University East Bay – Hayward Hills, and at San Francisco State University.

FuelCell Energy will maintain the power plants under the service agreements. Both fuel cell systems are installed and have generated power, with full operation expected within the next few weeks.

Utility-owned fuel cell power plants provide ultra-clean distributed baseload generation which lessens reliance on the electrical transmission grid. This represents incremental capacity that avoids or reduces investment in the electric transmission and distribution system.

‘Services are a key portion of our value proposition to our customers, and a cornerstone of our business model,’ says Chip Bottone, President and CEO of FuelCell Energy. ‘Service agreements allow our customers to focus on their business, while we focus our expertise on maintaining the power plants.’

FuelCell Energy offers a comprehensive portfolio of services for fuel cell power plants, ranging from one to 20 years. Technicians and engineers remotely monitor and operate the fuel cell power plants on a continuous basis globally, from the state-of-the-art Global Technical Assistance Center at the company’s Danbury, Connecticut headquarters.

DFC power plants provide ultra-clean baseload distributed generation to utilities, industrial operations, universities, municipal water treatment facilities, government installations and other clients around the world. The systems are operating on a variety of fuels, including renewable biogas from wastewater treatment and food processing, as well as natural gas.