What did the E-Cat Test Achieve?

The October 28th E-Cat test is over now. This was an event that people interested in Andrea Rossi’s cold fusion technology have been looking forward to for almost a year now, and for many observers it does not seem to have lived up to expectations.

In the build up to this event, Rossi had said a number of things would happen, some of which did not transpire. There was no live streaming of the test on Youtube; Rossi did not reveal his theory of what was happening inside the energy catalyzer; the name of the Customer was not made public — in fact this really did not turn out to be a public event at all.

If people were hoping that today would be the day when the world would be shown irrefutable proof of cold fusion in action they were disappointed. The event was essentially a private test of Rossi’s plant by agents of the unnamed American Customer where invited guests and selected journalists were able to get a brief look of the plant in action.

So what really did the test achieve? From Andrea Rossi’s point of view, a great deal. The testing done by the Customer’s agent, Domenico Fioravanti, was satisfactory enough for them to purchase the plant from Rossi, and take possession of it. This sale will provide Rossi with much-needed funds, and among other things allow him to contract a two-year research and development program with the University of Bologna, and begin negotiating with the University of Uppsala for a similar R&D program there. The fact that two major universities whose professors attended yesterday’s and other tests are willing to participate in research programs involving the E-Cat speaks volumes.

Also, yesterday’s test DID demonstrate (again) the validity of the E-Cat technology in what seems to me a compelling way. According to NyTeknik, the customer’s priority was to see the plant running in self-sustain mode (meaning the external heat to the reactor was switched off). Mats Lewan reported that “according to the customer’s controller, Domenico Fioravanti, the plant released 2,635 kWh during five and a half hours of self sustained mode, which is equivalent to an average power of 479 kilowatts.”

Another thing that the event demonstrated was the dedication of Andrea Rossi. He had made a commitment to launch this huge plant in October and he did it. Some people who had been convinced that he was some kind of fraudster had been predicting he would delay indefinitely so he could perpetuate his scam, but there was no such thing. The launch on schedule should certainly help his credibility when it comes to future business dealings.

We’re still waiting for more reporting from the test; the most well known media representative in the room was Peter Svennson of the Associated Press, and apparently it is going to take him a few days to prepare his report of the day’s proceedings. There was an hour long Q & A session which PESN has said they will be posting before too long.

And one more thing. From Rossi’s point of view there’s another major benefit that comes from completing his test — he gets to take a day off. His most recent blog posting says not to expect any comments from him today because he’s off to play tennis.