Siemens Westinghouse Reports Testing Results on Its SOFC Power System

Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp. (Orlando, FL) recently announced that the world's largest operating solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) power system, the 100kW SOFC cogeneration system in Westervoort, Netherlands, passed one year of total operating time.

"On December 30, 1999, the total operating time of the 100kW SOFC system reached 8,760 hours, or one year," said Herman Verbeek, project manager for EnergieNed (Federation of Energy Companies, Netherlands), which manages the project. "After an inspection period at Siemens Westinghouse, which followed a successful operation period of about 4,300 hours, the system was restarted at the test site in Westervoort in March 1999. Since restart, the system has been operating well, and has operated consistently at an electrical efficiency of nearly 46 percent. We are very pleased with its performance and look forward to another year with the system operating well."

According to Siemens, the system is currently supplying 110kW to the local grid and 64kW of hot water to the Westervoort district heating system.