Three years after announcing their 80,000 micro CHP unit deal with Powergen (now E.ON) in the UK, WhisperGen have finally managed to set up a JV with Spanish white goods manufacturer Mondragon CC to produce their 1kWe Stirling engine microCHP unit for the European market.
This is really good news for those who have been eagerly awaiting the availability of mass produced units following Powergen's limited roll-out in 2004, since when WhisperGen units have been rather hard to come by! No announcement so far from E.ON as to when they will be offering the mass produced units in the UK, but rumour has it that they should start to become available to the general public in 2009. Meanwhile a number of trials are taking place in Germany and Netherlands, so we could see a real European launch at the same time.
Bearing in mind that WhisperGen units were available in 1998 (as marine diesel, DC variants) it is salutory to see just how long it takes from prototype to commercial product; something to bear in mind when new entrants claim they are "launching next year" when they have yet to install more than a handful of trial units. Still, there could be other micro CHP units out there in the not too distant future with Microgen probably the leading contender.
For more information on this and other micro CHP click here
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