Alkaline fuel cell technology developer AFC Energy plc (LON:AFC) is working flat-out to achieve this year's milestones, its quarterly newsletter revealed.
“We are acutely aware of the market's desire to see commitments for the placement of AFC Energy's fuel cell system into the global energy market; indeed this is an important stated milestone for the company this calendar year,” said Adam Bond, chief executive officer of AFC.
“Negotiations are continuing with commercial parties interested in working with AFC Energy in this regard and we continue to strive to meet the commitments as stipulated within the milestones for this year,” he added.
The company is making the transition from a research & development (R&D) company to a commercial business, but the R&D work continues, of course.
Validation testing of AFC’s Generation 2 fuel cell stacks commenced on schedule in September and is ongoing at the test facilities in Dunsfold, UK and Stade, Germany.
“Notably, during the past three months, through improvements in stack design and build quality delivered through the Gen2 development programme, we have achieved over 180% improvement in fuel cell stack continuous operating hours and over 320% improvement in total stack running hours over the past quarter, further validating the incredible work our technical teams have and continue to deliver for the company,” Bond noted.
During the third quarter of the calendar year the company received £927,000 in R&D tax credits for the last financial year.
AFC Energy also received a €135,000 German VAT refund paid in the first half of this year and banked €181,000, which was its share for the project from the European Union’s Fuel Cell and hydrogen Joint Undertaking.
The full text of the newsletter can be found here