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EON AND SPECIALIST company Ceramic Fuel Cells (CFCL) have extended their collaboration to develop fuel cell micro combined heat and power (mCHP) units in the UK.

The two companies will now focus on commercialsing mCHP units, which are based on CFCL’s Gennex fuel cell. The Gennex fuel cell can generate 1 kW of energy and uses CFCL’s solid oxide fuel cell technology. A prototype mCHP unit integrated with a supplementary boiler has been running since June 2008 on the same fuel stack and as well as producing 1 kW of electricity can provide enough hot water in a day for the average household’s requirements.

The commercialisation project will begin this year and is expected to conclude in 2012. A UK market launch will follow this. The two companies have agreed a future order profile. If Eon orders a minimum 100,000 units between 2012 and 2018, the company will retain exclusive distribution rights.

The use of mCHP units in UK houses has the potential to reduce carbon emissions enormously and help the UK reach its ambitious carbon reduction policies. Eon and CFCL cite research from the BERR Report in June 2008, which showed that the right incentives from the UK government could see 9m mCHP units installed, producing energy equivalent to that of five nuclear power stations.

"The agreement with CFCL reflects two years' hard work to achieve a unit with a technical performance that has met all our targets. We are now pleased to commit funding and resources, subject to the attainment of agreed milestones, to roll out a commercial unit, building on CFCL's market-leading technology,” says Eon’s head of innovation, Charles Bradshaw-Smith.