Wärtsilä and Hitachi Zosen have signed a business development agreement to develop and market fuel cell based power solutions for distributed power generation applications in Japan. The combined heat and power applications, which can be run on either city gas or bio gas, will feature the use of Wärtsilä's fuel cell technology. The applications will be developed in cooperation by both companies, and marketed by Hitachi Zosen. Wärtsilä and Hitachi Zosen will utilize and combine their experience in technology and business development to provide this new and competitive power solution for the Japanese distributed energy markets.
Since Wärtsilä's fuel cells can efficiently utilize natural gas, city gas, and biogas as fuel, they produce almost zero nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulphur oxide (SOx) and particulate emissions, all of which are harmful to the environment. Wärtsilä has delivered a fuel cell unit producing electric and heating power to the Vaasa Housing Fair site in Western Finland. This Wärtsilä FC20 runs on landfill gas and has been in operation for more than 1,500 hours, producing electricity and heat for local households without creating any significant levels of greenhouse gas emissions.