Ten or more homes equipped with fuel cells are linked by electrical wiring to form a network. Special software forecasts the power demand of each home, calculating the next day's power generation plans daily. 

Each day, power supply plans determined the previous day are corrected every 10 minutes to match actual power consumption, thereby enabling optimized operation of the fuel cells.

Power is shared among the home in the network based on calculated usage.

Any surplus power is automatically stored.

Although none of the eight firms has clarified how high initial costs are, estimates are that an average four-person household could reduce its annual power bill by 150,000 yen (US$1,257) to 200,000 yen.

In addition, having fuel cells at each home would enable power to be supplied even if there were a power outage at the power company.

Efficiently operating the fuel cells could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30 per cent.

The consortium will field-test the system in 2007 with an aim of commercializing it by the end of fiscal year 2008.