March 1, 2005

E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Version

Danbury, CT-based FuelCell Energy Inc. has joined forces with Alliance Power, a Littleton, CO-based developer of distributed generation facilities, to provide a 1 MW fuel cell power plant to the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina, part of the Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., White Plains, NY. Four 250 kW natural gas-fueled molten carbonate Direct FuelCell® plants will provide base load electricity for the 1,044-room hotel, and co-generated heat will be used to heat the hotel’s pool. The system is expected to be installed this fall. It is the first to be executed under a Master Energy Services Agreement with Starwood that could extend to other hotels and resorts as well. Starwood operates more than 750 properties in more than 80 countries under the Sheraton, Westin, The Luxury Collection, St. Regis, W and Four Points by Sheraton brand names. In a separate announcement at the end of February, FuelCell Energy announced the dedication of two of its fuel cell power plants generating 500 kW of renewable power at the El Estero Wastewater Treatment Facility operated by the City of Santa Barbara, CA. The plant operates on methane gas produced in the treatment plant’s anaerobic gas digester. Santa Barbara’s public works director Tony Nisich estimated that in addition to producing power from waste gas, nitrogen oxides emissions and carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by, respectively, 35,000 pounds and 500 pounds by fueling the fuel cells with the methane which otherwise would have been flared. Contact: FuelCell Energy, Steven Eschbach, 203/825-6000; e-mail seschbach@fce.com.