$500/Kw doesn't seem that impressive, particularly if it's Kw THERMAL rather than electric.
Initial cost. But if you can refuel it with a few grams of powdered nickle and hydrogen and it runs for months or years, that's very cheap. Both are quiet abundant and inexpensive. Imagine heating your house all winter for $20 once the cost of the equipment is amortized.
That would be probably -$20 because the "waste product" of the reaction is copper. Copper is not abundant, and it is a very important, expensive material. A large plant could produce a commercially significant amount of it.
Anyway, let's wait a bit more and see if the 1 MW plant is real and if it works.
I’d need about 80 kW to heat my house in the dead of winter. That 40 thousand dollar up front cost makes a geothermal heat pump look pretty affordable.
I can buy propane for about 30 kWh for $1. Plus I can cook with it. Basically, the upfront cost looks like it would equal the cost to heat my house for the next 30 years.
Does anybody know how many years one of these things will work before needing replacement? How about maintenance cost?
Assuming that it works as described, this seems quite expensive for a low quality heat source.