The grant will be used towards the development and commissioning of fuel cell manufacturing machinery and processes in Ceres Power’s Product Facility which is on track to begin this summer. The Product Facility will enable Ceres to validate key fuel cell manufacturing processes prior to the Company’s planned investment in a mass manufacturing plant (the “Mother Plant”) in 2008.

The Company’s strategy is to reduce risks en route to mass production, simultaneously with its product development programme.  Through this concurrent approach, trials of the Company’s CHP products benefit from incorporating fuel cells manufactured using commercially viable scalable processes.

Over the past two years, Ceres has successfully recruited key employees to manage its manufacturing, engineering, procurement and quality functions to ensure a smooth transition to the automated manufacture of its fuel cell technology in preparation for mass production.

Peter Bance, CEO of Ceres Power, comments:

“We are delighted to be awarded this valuable grant to help us de-risk the mass manufacture of our fuel cells prior to investment in the Mother Plant in 2008. The Product Facility will help us to develop the capability to deliver cost effective, high quality end-products for what we anticipate could be very high market demand.”

Jeff Alexander, Executive Director Global Competitiveness at SEEDA, comments: 

“This commitment illustrates how the South East of England has positioned itself for the high-growth, leading-edge technology, alternative energy sector.  We are pleased to be able to support a world-class business like Ceres Power whose unique technology has the potential to address the long-term issues of energy savings, emissions reductions and fuel poverty in both private and public sector housing.”