Marubeni said it would supply a 250-kW DFC300A power plant, which will be powered by the natural gas produced from the field whilst it provides electricity to the on-site processing facilities. This is Marubeni's fourth identified DFC project in Japan.

According to FuelCell's Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales, Herbert T. Nock, "This demonstrates Marubeni's commitment to developing new and exciting markets for our DFC power plants. Nock also said, "With the projects announced to date, Marubeni is seeding the market in key applications that we believe will be the foundation for additional orders in Japan and Asia."

Previously, Marubeni has sited 250-kW power plants at the Nippon Metal Industry facility, the Fukuoka Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment District and the Kirin Brewery in Toride. Furthermore, the Kirin Brewery's DFC300A power plant has been in operation since January 2003 and the Nippon and Fukuoka units are expected to be operating before the end of the year. Total customer commitment for DFC power is around 4.25 megawatts.

And it does not stop there.

According to Takeo Nakata, Marubeni General Manager (New Energies Team), "The remote, off-grid and island markets in Japan and Asia are another major market segment that holds significant potential for small and large-scale DFC power generation. This project will demonstrate the market potential for this technology throughout JAPEX's service territory in Northern Japan."

Nakata feels that DFC power plants offer "a clean alternative to traditional reciprocating engine-based distributed generation."