Wired UK is reporting that Andrea Rossi has received orders for at least 13 one megawatt cold fusion power units. The units would generate 1MW of heat not electricity. This is in addition to the one unit he demonstrated on October 28 and sold to an unidentified US customer. The units would apparently be built by hand at Rossi’s facility in Bologna, Italy.
If true this report could mean that Rossi’s money woes are over. Wired is reporting that he will sell the units for $2 million US a piece. That would enable him to raise $28 million for his work if the orders go through. The same website is reporting that it would cost $2,000 to generate a kilowatt of heat energy with the units. Rossi has not identified these customers.
It is unclear what the customers will do with the units they generate heat and not electricity. On his own blog Rossi admits that the e-cat does not generate enough heat to make steam or electricity and it will be about two years before he can produce electricity with one. He announced that he can stop and start them and regulate the amount of heat they make. He just can’t generate steam yet.
What they purchased Rossi's 1MW e-cat generator
One possibility is that they will be used as heating units or commercial water heaters. Another would be to heat up water which would reduce the cost of running steam powered power plants or industrial operations by heating up the water before putting into a steam turbine which would reduce costs. There are many industrial processes that involve hot water as well. For example: many food processing operations and commercial laundries not to mention the cement and chemical industries. The e-cats could also be used in research.
Mr. Fusion from back to the Future Still a few years away. Sorry folks. Courtsey Universal Pictures
It should also be noted that the e-cat does not perform as well as Rossi advertised. It only generates around 470 KW of heat when he promised 1MW of heat which is half the performance level. Still I have a feeling a lot of people would like to see what makes this technology work.
Still it looks like anybody who can come up with $2 million US or 1.47 million Euros can buy an e-cat generator. What I wonder is to stop Rossi’s customers from simply buying a generator, cracking it open and see what makes it work? After all $2 million would be chump change to a lot of his competitors.
$2 million would also be chump change to the Russian, Chinese, Indian, Iranian, French and other governments which presumably want to get their hands on an e-cat now that rumors the Pentagon owns one are flying around the net. I imagine an e-cat will soon be on its way to the Russian Navy and to the Chinese Navy as well.
If true the orders should kill the speculation that Rossi is a fraudster. If Rossi were pulling a scam he wouldn’t show anyone that his machine is not generating the kind of power he wants. He would also presumably be taking money from the public and not selling working units.
Rossi and Guisseppe Levi with the unit they're selling.
If Rossi sells a unit that doesn’t work he could be sued or worse. A con artist would sell shares not working units. Still it looks like Rossi could make a lot of money to further his research out of this. How much I cannot say because we do not know the production costs. Nor do we know if the e-cat is capable of sustained operation or not. Only time will tell.
One thing is clear Andrea Rossi is taking some very big risks here but he could also make some big profits from this. I for one hope he succeeds.
You say in the article “If true the orders should kill the speculation that Rossi is a fraudster.”
What you should say, if these DELIVERIES are made, that should kill the speculaton that Rossi is a fraudster.
Taking advance money and deposits on orders and actually delivering working units are two different things.
A number of these statements are in need of correction;
13 orders is a complete rumor not reported by Rossi.
Rossi’s E-Cats are perfectly capable of making steam. What his plants are not designed for at the moment is to deliver steam at pressure. This being what would be needed to run a turbine.
Rossi’s 1 MW plant can deliver 1 MW of heat. The buyer of the Oct. 28 machine wanted to see the plant demonstrated in self sustaining mode which required the backing off to the 470 KW setting.
The self sustaining mode has been demonstrated a number of times now. Self sustaining meaning in this case that the reactor consumes Nickel and Hydrogen but the heat of the reaction is used to maintain the reaction instead of thermo-electric input.
My comment here is no longer valid as Rossi now confirms the sale.
Your statement that “it would cost $2,000 to generate a kilowatt of heat energy with the units” is somewhat misleading.
He is charging $2,000 per kilowatt to sell and install them, but the cost to generate a kilowatt is almost negligible.
Was wondering if any experiments have been made were the self sustaining mode has been longer than only 5 hours. Have any of the 1kw units been running for an extended period of time, say several months, in the self sustaining mode?
Heard of 35 minutes sustained operation and 5 hours in another test. Have there been any other tests were the sustained operation was longer?
Lonnie Johnson’s JTEC cell can directly convert heat to electricity:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/11/shooting-for-the-sun/8268/