A test of Andrea Rossi’s 1 megawatt cold fusion device was successfully carried out by the engineers and scientists of his first customer at Bologna, Italy on October 28th. It produced 470 kW of continuous power for five and a half hours with no input of electricity beyond that required by the two small water circulating pumps. While the system is capable of one megawatt output, the customer chose to go with the lower level that didn’t require any power input.
Nearly half a megawatt output with no energy input is a staggering success for a system that is still at the model T Ford stage of development. Billions of dollars have been spent on hot fusion research that has still to generate a net gain in energy. Engineer Rossi built his invention using his own money.
The one megawatt plant consists of 100 modules, each module containing 3 E-Cats (Energy Catalyzers) that heat water to produce steam. The fuel is a small amount of powdered nickel and Hydrogen, that together with a secret catalyst, produce heat by LENR (Low Energy Nuclear Reaction) after being heated to the “ignition temperature.” It seems that some of the nickel is transmuted to copper and the mass difference is converted to energy. Twenty two pounds of Nickel powder and forty pounds of Hydrogen are sufficient for 180 days of operation at full power. 90% of the nickel can be recycled afterwards. The E-Cat does not use radioactive materials nor make radioactive waste. There is no increase in measured radiation near the device because it is shielded in lead. It has no waste products except for the nickel that can be recycled.
A larger version connected to a turbine and generator should produce electricity at less than 1 cent/kWhr. Compare this with solar power at 25 cents/kW, wind turbines at 18 cents/kW or natural gas at 8 cents/kW. One could expect E-Cats to power vehicles in several years time. Imagine being able to drive continuously for six months without refueling. Goodbye to dependence on foreign oil. Rossi is working on a domestic version for heating the home and hot water. A single module would be enough for most. Engineer Rossi thinks it will take a year to get the domestic unit developed and certified for use.
Cold fusion was doubted following the Fleischmann and Pons debacle of 1989, because their experiment was hard to duplicate, was not reliably repeatable and produced only a little extra heat. Since then heat from “cold fusion” has been demonstrated many times and reported in peer reviewed journals. The Department Of Energy has been a leader in denying the existence of this discovery and has influenced the US Patent Office to not even consider any patent related to this field. Many speculate this is related to the $billions in grants to hot fusion research that would end if cold fusion was accepted. The fact remains, DoE (Department of Energy) has set back research in this country by twenty years and Mr. Rossi is unable to get patent protection here.
The story is reminiscent of the Wright Brothers. Two bicycle mechanics making a flying machine that academia said was impossible. Small wonder the media ignored reports of them flying for two years. Here Mr. Rossi, an engineer, claims to have discovered a new nuclear process that will revolutionize the world. Leading scientists scoff because there is no accepted theory to explain it and he has not published the results in a peer reviewed journal. The media has ignored the half dozen demonstrations over nearly a year.
Aashfield's Blog 
Sorry to bust your bubble. Except for possibly trains and long haul truckers, mobile applications of the e-cat are not practical because of the heat up and cool down cycles of transportation. Large central generators or mid sized distributed generation supplying EV’s is practical. Using an e-cat for hot water for laundries, absorbsion chilling for hospitals, schools, office buildings and data centers are paractical.
Dick, you are right that as things stand this would be a problem. I assumed that there would have to be some backup energy storage, like a battery, Better yet an EESU ultracapacitor if that ever surfaces.
We don’t know whether the the E-Cat could be turned down and left running at a low level. Another possibility is to plug it into the house and use it to supply your household needs.
We simply don’t know enough about it and the E-Cat is at such an early stage of development that what is possible is not yet known.