Mark Prisk MP opens Ceres Power plant

RNS Number : 2348K

Ceres Power Holdings plc

12 July 2011

 



12 July 2011

Ceres Power Holdings plc

("Ceres", "Ceres Power" or "the Company")

Mark Prisk MP, Minister of State for Business and Enterprise opens Ceres Power Fuel Cell Manufacturing Facility

Ceres Power today welcomed the Minister of State for Business and Enterprise, Mark Prisk MP, to conduct the official opening of its volume fuel cell manufacturing facility in Horsham, Sussex.

Ceres Power has created more than 170 highly skilled 'Green Collar' jobs at the manufacturing facility in Horsham and technology centre in Crawley. As part of the Group's plans for a mass market launch of the CHP product in the UK, the manufacturing facility can be expanded to produce up to 30,000 fuel cell CHP products per annum which will create substantial additional skilled jobs in advanced manufacturing engineering and operations and the local supply chain.  There are also further opportunities to export significant volumes of the CHP product globally.

Ceres Power has completed the first phase of its advanced fuel cell manufacturing facility that produces the Group's unique fuel cell module.  The fuel cell module is integrated within a compact wall mounted residential Combined Heat and Power ('CHP') product that replaces a conventional boiler and also generates almost all  of a typical home's electricity. The Group has partnered with British Gas to sell, install, service and maintain the CHP product in UK homes, offering households savings of up to 25% of their annual total energy costs and reducing their CO₂ emissions.  

As part of the visit, the Minister of State toured the factory seeing fuel cells being manufactured and CHP products being assembled and undergoing lifetime testing in the Group's new test facilities.

Mark Prisk MP, Minister of State for Business and Enterprise said:

"Here in Britain we have a vibrant low carbon environmental goods and services market which is already the sixth largest in the world and worth £112 billion. It is thanks to innovative research and product development by companies such as Ceres Power that we are leading the world with this sort of technology and which will help us realise our ambition to make the UK a leading high tech, highly skilled economy.

"Ceres Power's work in developing a revolutionary new product that can convert natural gas into electricity and heat without burning it will cut costs of annual energy bills and has the potential to make a major contribution to reducing carbon emissions in millions of homes in the UK and across Europe."

Brian Count, Executive Chairman of Ceres Power, commented:

"Ceres Power is committed to continuing to commercialise its world-leading technology and position the UK as a leader in the deployment and manufacture of low carbon advanced manufactured products. We look forward to creating significant further skilled jobs in the UK and generating export opportunities in partnership with the UK government."

Notes to editors:

The Ceres Power fuel cell CHP product operates on mains natural gas and generates all of the heating and hot water and the majority of the electricity needs of a typical UK home. The wall-mounted unit is designed to replace a conventional central heating boiler and uses the same gas, water and electricity connections. With its low heat to power ratio and unique load-following ability, a Ceres Power CHP product can operate all year round thereby maximizing the energy savings for the household and cutting carbon emissions.

www.cerespower.com

For further information contact:

Ceres Power Holdings plc Brian Count, Chairman Rex Vevers, Finance Director	Tel. [phone]
Kreab Gavin Anderson & Company Ken Cronin /Michael Turner / Anthony Hughes	Tel. [phone]

 

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