UK / Japan – Fuel cell system manufacturer Ceres Power Holdings plc, based in Horsham, UK, has issued a long-term manufacturing license to components giant, Denso Corporation* of Kariya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, to produce its patented solid oxide electrolyser cell (“SOEC”) technology** used in the process of manufacturing hydrogen gas. According to Ceres, Denso was selected due to its expertise and resources to manufacture advanced equipment at scale. This deal will create significant revenues for Ceres through licensing fees, royalty payments, engineering services and hardware over multiple years. The majority of the revenue generated will come through royalty payments on any hydrogen delivered to the end customers.

Ceres has also signed a contract with oil multinational Shell plc for the production of renewable hydrogen in Bangalore, India. Ceres will help design and build the solid oxide electrolyser (“SOEC”) module for use in large scale industrial applications. The first phase of the trial was successful, leading to the deployment of a 1MW SOEC system. The second phase requires scaling this to 100s of megawatts and then being successfully integrated into industrial plants that produce sustainable fuels, such as green hydrogen. The aim is to target a module level of efficiency of less than 36kWh/kg and drive down the price, making it much more competitive as an alternative fuel/energy option in sectors such as heavy transportation.