EFOY Pro fuel cell generator powers silent, eco-responsible eagle watch & protection equipment

  • Environmentally friendly power generation with no exhausts supports applications also in natural reserve areas
  • Many months of availability with one single cartridge saves service and travel costs and increases overall system efficiency
  • User intervention-free operation ensures non disturbance of birds

Brunnthal/Munich, Germany,
December 13, 2012 – The environmentally friendly EFOY Pro fuel cell generators by SFC Energy AG, technology and market leader for portable, mobile, and off-grid power generation and distribution, have enabled the undisturbed video observation of a pair of white tailed eagles over this last breeding season. The fuel cell, installed by SFC’s system integration partner and electrical engineering solutions provider Antares Ltd., UK, was selected by The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), because it provides the longest period of operation without human intervention with the smallest visible footprint, thus avoiding disrupting the endangered and highly protected birds during their breeding season.

In the 1970s a programme began to re-establish a self-sustaining whitetailed eagle population in Scotland. Scottish Natural Heritage and the RSPB brought young chicks from Norway in three separate phases of the project which has seen birds released in the west of Scotland and latterly in the east, with this latest release in Fife coming to an end in 2012. The wild breeding population is growing steadily and now allows opportunities for local communities to get to know the birds better.

To witness the rearing of eagle chicks from egg to fledging the RSPB in partnership with the local community, the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) and SNH has installed a camera on Shieldaig Island, in Wester Ross, Scotland, adjacent to the nest of a white-tailed eagle pair. The site location on a remote island required a silent, intervention-free and environmentallyfriendly power solution which not only had to reliably work in any weather and temperature but which also had to allow wireless data transfer and remote operation. Antares selected the fuel cell as it provided the longest period of operation without human intervention, the smallest visible footprint and completely silent, odourless operation. With the EFOY Pro’s fuel methanol being completely biodegradable, and with the fuel cell generator itself producing no harmful emissions at all, the EFOY Pro solution also convinced the RSPB with its environmental friendliness.

“Our EFOY Pro fuel cell generator is a true enabling solution for powering demanding research and surveillance applications, where long intervention free availability, silent operation, and noise- and odourless power generation are just as important as reliable 24/7 power production”, says Dr. Peter Podesser, CEO of SFC Energy. “No other technology can offer this specific combination of benefits.”

More information on SFC Energy’s EFOY Pro fuel cell generators at www.efoy-pro.com.

About SFC Energy AG
SFC Energy AG (www.sfc.com) is a market leader for off grid and stationary power generation and distribution. With approx. 25,000 fuel cells sold the Company has successfully and globally established fully commercialized and award winning products in the Consumer, Industry, and Defense & Security markets for many years. Equally successfully, the group develops, produces and globally distributes higher level power management components, e.g. converters and switched mode power supplies. The products increasingly are delivered as power supply system solutions according to customer requirements. SFC is DIN ISO 9001:2008 certified. The Company is based in Brunnthal/Munich, Germany, and operates facilities in the Netherlands and Romania, and a sales organization in the U.S. SFC Energy AG is listed at the Deutsche Boerse Prime Standard (WKN: 756857 ISIN: DE0007568578).