The utilisation of renewable fuels for fuel cell systems provides a considerable reduction of greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional power generation. The goal of this thesis was the selection of the most promising renewable, non gas grid-bounded fuel for stationary µ-CHP fuel cell systems, and the characterization of a PEM fuel cell system with the selected fuel. Promising fuel candidates which can easily be stored are methanol, ethanol and dimethyl-ether (DME) as well as vegetable oil, bio-diesel and liquid synthetic hydrocarbon fuels. Within the project, methanol, ethanol and DME were preselected and benchmarked in terms of fuel production potential, fuel reforming aspects as well as FC system efficiency and complexity. In principal each of these fuels is applicable at comparable fuel production and system efficiency values. System complexity and fuel reforming issues led to the selection of DME as the most promising fuel. Then the PEM fuel cell system was operated and characterized with the selected fuel. The results of the DME-operated system were compared to results of the system, operated with natural gas. Natural gas was used as an alternative for Substitute Natural Gas (SNG), which represents the gas grid-bounded renewable fuels.