Fuel cell developer Ceres Power Holdings PLC (LON:CWR) saw its shares jump as firm hailed the success of a year-long trial of its technology in five family homes.
In late afternoon trading, Ceres Power shares were up over 7.5%, or 1.00p at 14.25p.
The trials showed the company’s SteelCell technology offers a reliable, deliverable potential answer to what Ceres calls the looming gap between energy and supply.
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The key to the use of the technology is the ability for home owners to generate their own power and heat reliably, saving around £400 a year in energy bills.
In a typical UK family home, the prototype units provide around 80% of the average household's electricity needs while saving up to two tonnes of CO2 per household, with next to no harmful nitrogen oxide and sulphur oxide emissions.
Environmental benefits
Ceres said switching to its system for a year would, in ecological terms, be the equivalent of taking a diesel car off the road for 12 months.
If you don’t have a diesel car and in fact are congratulating yourself on owning an electrical vehicle (EV), data from the trials indicates that end-users can generate most of the power needed for their home while still exporting enough surplus power to charge a typical EV.
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Additional annual savings of over £1000 would be achieved if the technology gained government support through the UK's current Feed-in tariff, Ceres said.
"These are very encouraging results which illustrate the huge potential of fuel cell technology,” said Phil Caldwell, chief executive officer of Ceres Power.
“We know the grid is coming under ever increasing pressure. We also know that renewables only provide intermittent power. These trials have proven that the SteelCell can save consumers money, and generate power effectively emission-free - and they do so using the existing reliable gas network in the UK,” Caldwell added.
“The SteelCell offers a highly efficient and flexible answer, producing reliable power which will complement our growing reliance on renewables," he declared.
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