The Company has successfully designed, built and tested an integrated fuel cell system comprising a bottled gas supply, fuel processor and multi-layer stack.  A continuous supply of electricity in the range of 250 to 400 Watts was generated as the system was put through its paces in a series of tests simulating in-service operating conditions.

Ceres Power's Product Development Director, Andrew Baker said: "This is another crucial milestone in our development programme, proving not only that our cell will work with a range of readily available fuels, but also that Ceres has the expertise to produce integrated power systems for its target markets."

A Ceres Power product fed by bottles of gas would be ideally suited to provide a reliable, energy-efficient and silent supply of power for a range of applications such as telecoms base stations, on construction sites, and various leisure uses.

This is the latest in an important sequence of technical breakthroughs for the Company. Over the past few months, the Company has also announced a four-fold increase in both the size and power output of its fuel cell and has set a series of global performance records within the fuel cell industry.

Unlike many fuel cell technologies that can operate only on pure hydrogen, Ceres Power cells can also operate on a range of commercially available fuels, so they are not dependent on the widespread development of a hydrogen economy.

Building on its multi-fuel capability and product engineering know-how, Ceres Power has established a relationship with the industrial gases giant BOC that targets off-grid applications using LPG.  The Company has also recently announced an alliance with British Gas to develop a domestic boiler that will produce heat and electricity using the existing natural gas supply..