Ceres Power completes scale-up project at Horsham

The AIM-traded company said the move was a key step towards mass-market commercialisation of its fuel cell technology, in response to growing market opportunities.

Ceres said the new high-speed print line at its manufacturing facility in Horsham reduced ceramic-on-steel print-cycle time from 30 seconds to three seconds.

The company said it demonstrated Ceres's processes as being consistent with low-cost, high-volume manufacturing, and corroborating the steel cell as a disruptive low-cost fuel cell technology.

"This scale up project represents an important step change in cost that fuel cells need to bring about widespread adoption.," said Ceres Power chief operating officer James Falla.

"With the help of Innovate UK funding and ASM Alternative Energy we are now showing that our Steel Cell can be mass manufactured economically using highly scalable processes, allowing us to provide customers with a low cost fuel cell solution," he added.

The project was delivered by Ceres in partnership with global screen-printing provider ASM Alternative Enerfy, and was part-funded by £0.7m from Innovate UK's Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain initiative.

By using standard processes developed for the solar industry, and conventional materials such as steel, Ceres believed the project demonstrated the steel cell as an affordable mass-produced product.