FuelCell Energy Q3 loss in line with Street

* Q3 loss $0.15/shr vs est loss $0.15/shr

* Q3 rev down 17 pct

Sept 1 (Reuters) - FuelCell Energy Inc (FCEL.O), which makes fuel-cell power plants for electricity generation, posted a quarterly loss in line with Wall Street estimates.

For the third quarter, the company's net loss was $13.8 million, or 15 cents a share, compared with a loss of $15 million, or 21 cents a share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell 17 percent to $18.9 million.

Analysts on average were expecting FuelCell to post a loss of 15 cents a share, on revenue of $18.8 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Research and development contract revenue fell 59 percent to $2.7 million, due to decreased activity under the solid oxide fuel cell development contract with the U.S. Department of Energy.

FuelCell Energy, which has its major clients in South Korea and Japan, said it received three orders totaling 2.6 megawatt in August which will add $13.1 million to its backlog in the fourth quarter.

The company expects its California power plant to be operational on natural gas during the quarter.

Shares of FuelCell, which have lost 69 percent of their value in the past one year because of slow acceptance of the fuel cell technology, closed at $1.16 Wednesday on Nasdaq.

Source: Reuters