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Starwood's Award-Winning Energy Program Expands Reliance on Fuel Cell Energy Power Plants to the Westin Brand

Posted on: Wednesday, 5 October 2005, 06:00 CDT

500 Kilowatt Direct Fuel Cell Power Plant for the Westin San Francisco Airport Hotel to Provide Base Load Electricity and Heat for Indoor Pool

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT) and FuelCell Energy, Inc. (NasdaqNM:FCEL), a leading manufacturer of ultra-clean power generation plants for commercial and industrial customers, today announced the expanded use of fuel cell power plants to include the Westin Hotel brand with the inaugural installation to consist of a 500 kilowatt (kW) Direct FuelCell(R) (DFC(R)) power plant at The Westin San Francisco Airport Hotel location.

The 500 kW DFC power plant for The Westin San Francisco Airport Hotel will supply base load power for the 390-room hotel while the heat byproduct will be used to heat the hotel's indoor pool.

"Starwood's expansion of its fuel cell energy program into the Westin brand exemplifies the company's commitment to the most efficient, ultra-clean and reliable onsite base load power generation," said R. Daniel Brdar, President and COO of FuelCell Energy, Inc. "Starwood, an innovative corporate leader who has recognized the value of fuel cells through repeat purchases at multiple locations is demonstrating that our DFC products are advancing from the early adoption phase to more mainstream application."

Once the Westin hotel unit is installed and operating, Starwood will be generating 2.75 MW of ultra-clean power for five of its U.S. hotels in California, New Jersey and New York. The first unit was installed in 2002 at the Sheraton in Edison, NJ. Westin is the upper-upscale brand of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, with 121 hotels globally in approximately 31 countries and territories.

"Our use of fuel cells at Sheraton hotels has successfully reduced our energy costs while offering us quality power with strong environmental benefits, and we are eager to begin applying this formula to our Westin and other brand hotels," said John Lembo, Director of Energy for Starwood. "With DFC installations at hotels on both coasts of the U.S., we are fulfilling our pledge to be the best business neighbors with a commitment to helping our environment while providing the highest quality of service to our guests."

Starwood was recently named as the Number 1 company in Buildings Magazine's 2005 'A' List due to its green initiatives, which resulted from the installation of DFC power plants at four other hotel properties in the U.S.

"This kind of growth and development is exciting as FuelCell Energy sitings continue to pick up momentum in California," said James Michael, President of Alliance Power. "Each new project further cements our relationship with Starwood and shows how this kind of technology can make a difference to the environment and is repeatable at other locations."

The DFC power plant at the hotel will be installed and operated by Alliance Star Energy, a joint venture between FuelCell Energy and Alliance Power.

Pacific Gas and Electric, administrator for CPUC's Self-Generation Incentive Program for their service territory, is expected to issue a reservation letter of up to $1.25 million for The Westin San Francisco Airport Hotel installation.

The State of California continues to lead the way in supporting fuel cell technology by providing financial and regulatory support. Fuel cell energy is categorized as an "ultra-clean and low-emission distributed technology, which produces zero emissions during operation or produces emissions that are equal to or less than limits established by the California Air Resources Board.

FuelCell Energy is seeing increased interest for its ultra-clean DFC power plants by customers such as Starwood that are demanding clean, efficient and reliable onsite power generation. This is more pronounced in markets where high electrical costs, strict emissions controls, grid constraints and other characteristics require a clean, efficient distributed generation solution. The key attributes of the company's DFC power plants include: favorable emissions profile (and resulting less restrictive permitting requirements), lower operating and maintenance costs (due to higher fuel efficiency and remote monitoring), and improved reliability (having power generation located at the customer's site). The company is having success in developing repeatable business in geographical markets such as California that offer sufficient funding to make the pricing of the company's DFC power plants more competitive with the local cost of electricity and cogeneration.

About Westin Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

Westin Hotels & Resorts, with 121 hotels and resorts in 31 countries and territories, is owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and was ranked "Highest in Guest Satisfaction Among Upscale Hotels Chains." in the J.D. Power and Associates' 2004 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Study(SM) and voted Best Domestic Hotel Chain by Global Traveler Magazine. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with approximately 750 properties in more than 80 countries and 120,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. With internationally renowned brands, Starwood(R) corporation is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels and resorts including: St. Regis(R), The Luxury Collection(R), Sheraton(R), Westin(R), Four Points(R) by Sheraton, and W(R), Hotels and Resorts as well as Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com.

About FuelCell Energy

FuelCell Energy develops and markets ultra-clean power plants that generate electricity with up to twice the efficiency of conventional fossil fuel plants and with virtually no air pollution. Fuel cells produce base load electricity where commercial and industrial customers face cost, reliability, security or environmental issues with their existing energy supplies. Emerging state, federal and international regulations to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions consider fuel cell power plants in the same environmentally friendly category as wind and solar energy sources -- with the added advantages of running 24 hours a day and the capacity to be installed where wind turbines or solar panels often cannot. Headquartered in Danbury, Conn., FuelCell Energy services over 40 power plant sites around the globe that have generated more than 78 million kilowatt hours, and conducts R&D on next-generation fuel cell technologies to meet the world's ever-increasing demand for ultra-clean distributed energy. For more information on the Company, its products and its worldwide commercial distribution alliances, please see www.fuelcellenergy.com.

Direct FuelCell, DFC and DFC/Turbine are registered trademarks of FuelCell Energy, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The Company's sub-megawatt DFC fuel cell power plant is a collaborative effort combining its Direct FuelCell technology with a Hot Module(R) balance of plant design from MTU CFC Solutions, GmbH, a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler.

This news 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.

Source: Business Wire

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