Dominovas Energy was recently hosted by the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE) in Johannesburg, South Africa, where Dr. Shamiul Islam, executive vice-president of the company’s Fuel Cell Division, delivered a lecture presenting the company’s electricity generating technology, the RUBICONTM Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) system.
Dr. Islam delivered his presentation on the proprietary design of the industry’s first scalable, single megawatt SOFC system to an audience of stakeholders, potential off-takers, engineers, and academics actively engaged in South Africa’s power generation and distribution industry.
“The design of a single megawatt system lays out the foundation for scale with modular design and construction of a multi-megawatt RUBICONTM system. Until now, all single megawatt systems of fuel cell generated power were comprised of an array of individual kilowatt units configured to function at a megawatt scale. The generally accepted configuration and design of megawatt systems within the industry to date have taken smaller configurations of the fuel cell stacks, generally 1kW, and pieced them together to create configurations totaling multiple kilowatts. This approach is problematic in that the generation of megawatt baseload power is inefficient and it additionally creates units that, by design, have multiple opportunities for failure which contribute to extraordinary and otherwise unnecessary repair and maintenance costs. In designing a true megawatt system, Dominovas Energy has optimized system size, production efficiency, and overall system performance and veracity,” explained Dr. Islam.
The presentation covered fuel cells in general, and specifically addressed the RUBICONTM SOFC system’s megawatt design, functionality, advanced engineering and manufacture timelines. In comparing the technology to “traditional” sources of electricity generation, Dr. Islam illustrated how the RUBICON™ is the preferred electricity generation choice of both public utilities and private sector operations in the manufacturing, hospitality, mining and agriculture industries throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
When asked about the significance of Dominovas Energy’s presentation, SAIEE Chairman Max Chauke responded first by noting South Africa’s power challenges and their adverse impact on the economy.
“Although our government is building new power plants such as the coal fired Medupi and Kusile, these will not be adequate to solve the power crisis that we face as more and more of the older plants are ending their productive life. Alternative sources of power are required and we commend government’s efforts in addressing and actively seeking out alternative energy solutions,” he stated. “The SAIEE encourages the Government to continue investing in various sources of alternative energy and to specifically consider other technologies such as Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) which have a strong value proposition along with an electrical efficiency greater than solar power and wind energy. On behalf of my colleagues, I would like to thank Dominovas Energy for the outstanding and proper presentation that was made to the SAIEE’s Power and Energy section regarding the RUBICON™ SOFC technology. As the section and institute, we will continue working with Dominovas Energy along with other industry experts in order to keep abreast with the latest technologies that can be of great benefit to South Africa and her people.”
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