UK's Ceres Power enters deal with Centrica for home fuel cells

London (Platts)--20Mar2006

AIM-listed fuel UK cell developer Ceres Power has entered a GBP2.7
million($4.7 million) deal with UK energy supplier Centrica under which the
two companies will launch home fuel cell combined heat and power units in UK
homes, the companies said Monday.
The project is part-funded by the Department of Trade and Industry. It is
aimed at designing, building and evaluating fuel cell CHP units, delivering
electricity, heating and hot water, and substantially reducing both energy
bills and carbon dioxide emissions. Combining heat and power production is
more efficient than producing either separately. And localized generation cuts
transmission losses.
The deal follows the recent delivery by Ceres Power of a production-
engineered 1kW fuel cell stack (the "Ceres Stack") that can generate
sufficient power for the average home.
Other energy companies have been testing out home combined heat and power
units based on conventional gas-fired combustion technology. Eon UK has been
testing the New Zealand-designed Whispergen unit, using this technology.
Platts reported in January that Mark Clare, managing director of
Centrica's British Gas subsidiary, thought conventional combustion CHP units
would soon become redundant and that he thought boiler manufacturers were now
looking to jump straight to commercial fuel cells.
The Ceres fuel cell can run on widely available fuels including natural
gas, LPG and biofuels as well as on hydrogen. Fuel cells combine fuel and
air to create electricity and heat via a quiet, solid state electrochemical
process similar to a battery. As this process does not involve combustion,
unlike an engine or burner, it is highly efficient and environmentally
friendly.

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