FuelCell Energy Signs With King County, Washington for Digester / Direct 
FuelCell Energy Project 
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Updated: Thursday, January 25, 2001 08:36 AM?ET 

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DANBURY, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 25, 2001-- 
One Megawatt Fuel Cell Power Plant to Demonstrate 







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Ability of Fuel Cell to Control Emissions and 
Utilize Renewable Fuel Source 
FuelCell Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq: FCEL, news, msgs) and King County, Washington, 
jointly announced the signing of an agreement to install a Direct FuelCell(R) 
(DFC(R)) power plant using municipal wastewater digester gas as the fuel. 
FuelCell Energy was selected for the project through a competitive process 
last July to install and operate a 1MW DFC power plant at the County's South 
Wastewater Treatment Facility in Renton, Washington (King County). The two 
year demonstration project is cost-shared equally by FuelCell Energy and King 
County, through a cooperative grant to the County from the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA). Total value of the contract is $18.8 million. 
Operations are expected to commence during the third quarter of 2002. 
"This megawatt-class commercial field trial of the DFC power plant represents 
the first advanced wastewater digester project for FuelCell Energy", said 
Jerry Leitman, president and CEO of FuelCell Energy. "This project will 
demonstrate the versatility of fuel use with the Direct FuelCell, as well as 
its capability to produce more electricity than other technologies using the 
same quantity of fuel. With 500 municipal waste-water treatment systems in 
the U.S., and a greater number of industrial wastewater treatment facilities 
that produce sufficient gas to supply our fuel cell power plants, we 
anticipate that generation of electricity at wastewater treatment plants will 
be a significant market for FuelCell Energy." 
"This is cutting edge technology that will help King County turn a waste 
byproduct into a valuable resource," said King County Executive Ron Sims. 
"This is an important project as we look to meeting our future power needs in 
this new era of higher priced electricity. 
A wastewater treatment system that uses an anaerobic digester process to 
stabilize solids and reduce pathogenic microorganisms produces a methane-rich 
gas that can be fed to the DFC power plant. According to industry sources, a 
30 mgd wastewater treatment plant generates sufficient digester gas to fuel a 
one megawatt fuel cell power plant using carbonate technology. 
Gregory M. Bush, manager, technology assessment and resource recovery at the 
Department of Natural Resources for King County, said, "This is a very 
exciting project for King County. We are able to use a renewable gas resource 
product, in this case, a by-product of the wastewater treatment, to produce 
electricity to power our plant, and achieve a higher value in the process. We 
acknowledge the vision of EPA in seeing that wastewater treatment plants can 
contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas and air pollution 
conventionally associated with electricity generation. We're pleased to play 
a part in validating digester/fuel cell systems because of the environmental 
benefits of producing power without combustion, thereby reducing air 
pollutants." 
Robert K. Bastian, senior environmental scientist for the EPA Office of 
Wastewater Management, commented, "Once able to operate on a sustainable 
basis, it appears that fuel cells have the potential to improve the 
efficiency of energy recovery from digester gas, while greatly reducing air 
emissions -- including greenhouse gases -- from wastewater treatment plants. 
The 1MW Carbonate Fuel Cell demonstration project at King County provides an 
opportunity to show and document this potential improvement in energy 
recovery and reduction in air emissions from the conversion of methane 
produced by anaerobic sludge digestion to electrical power." 
FuelCell Energy's field trials are precursors to the DFC commercial market 
entry. Current field trials in operation or scheduled for 2001 include 250 kW 
DFC power plants at the University of Bielefeld and the Rhone Klinikum 
Hospital in Germany, at the headquarters of the Los Angeles Department of 
Water and Power, a 250 kW system in Japan for Marubeni and a 250 kW unit 
slated for the spring of 2001 at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in 
Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Also slated for 2001 is a 3 kW DFC unit for the U.S. 
Coast Guard at the Cape Henry Lighthouse in Virginia to demonstrate fuel cell 
capabilities at remote sites. Discussions are underway with PPL EnergyPlus 
regarding site location for their first order of a 250 kW unit to be shipped 
later this year. 
About Direct FuelCell(R) Technology 
The growing demand in both private and public sectors for clean, efficient 
power in the US and around the world is driving interest in fuel cell 
technology. FuelCell Energy's DFC(R) technology, which uses a non-combustion, 
non-mechanical power generation process, has been proven to deliver cleaner, 
more efficient power than that generated by conventional power plants. 
About FuelCell Energy, Inc. (www.fuelcellenergy.com) 
Danbury, Connecticut-based FuelCell Energy, Inc. is a world-recognized leader 
in the development and commercialization of high efficiency fuel cells for 
electric power generation. The Company's Direct FuelCell technology 
eliminates external fuel processing to extract hydrogen from a hydrocarbon 
fuel. This results in a product whose cost, combined with high efficiency, 
simplicity and reliability, offers significant product advantages for 
stationary power generation. The Company has been developing DFC(R) 
technology for stationary power plants with the U.S. Department of Energy 
through the National Energy Technology Laboratory, whose advanced fuel cell 
research program is focused on developing a new generation of high 
performance fuel cells that can generate clean electricity at power stations 
or in distributed locations near the customer, including hospitals, schools, 
data centers and other commercial and industrial applications. 
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements 
regarding the Company's plans and expectations regarding the development and 
commercialization of its fuel cell technology. All forward-looking statements 
are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to 
differ materially from those projected. Factors that could cause such a 
difference include, without limitation, the risk that commercial field trials 
of the Company's products will not occur when anticipated, general risks 
associated with product development, manufacturing, changes in the utility 
regulatory environment, potential volatility of energy prices, rapid 
technological change, and competition, as well as other risks set forth in 
the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 
forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date of this 
press release. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking 
to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statement to reflect 
any change in the Company's expectations or any change in events, conditions 
or circumstances on which any such statement is based. 

    CONTACT: FuelCell Energy, Inc.
             Investors:
             Susan Odiseos, 203/825-6475
             sodiseos@fce.com
             or
             Media:
             William Baker, 860/350-9100
             wbaker@bakercg.com
             or
             King County
             Gregory M. Bush, 206/684-1164
             greg.bush@metrokc.gov
             or
             Media:
             Carolyn Duncan, 206/296-8304
             carolyn.duncan@metrokc.gov

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