28 Apr 2010 07:00
| Press Release | 28 April 2010 |
Acta S.p.A.
("Acta" or "the Company")
Award of GrantHydrogen generation for power storage in wind turbine system
Acta, the clean energy products company, is pleased to announce that it has received a €780,000 grant for the development of a domestic power generation, storage and recovery system, linking a microgeneration wind turbine to Acta's hydrogen generator and fuel cell system. This award is part of a total funding of €1.3 million for the 18-month project, granted by the local government of the Tuscany Region and involving Acta, the University of Pisa, and Aequalis Srl, a specialist local wind turbine developer.
The combined system is being developed for use in homes that are not connected to the electricity grid and for remote renewable energy storage applications. It will also act as a demonstrator for larger-scale peak energy shaving applications. Energy generated from a wind turbine will be used to produce hydrogen from water using Acta's unique electrolysis technology. The pure, dry, compressed hydrogen can be stored and then used, on demand, to produce electricity through a mid-sized fuel cell. The Company believes that future applications will include distributed power microgeneration and storage, and ultimately that the system can be scaled up to utility-sized installations for use with commercial wind farms.
Paolo Bert, Chief Executive, commented: "We are very pleased to have received funding approval for this strategic application of our highly innovative hydrogen generator. The market for distributed power generation, storage and buffering applications is enormous, and this project will allow us to demonstrate the technical and commercial viability of our renewable energy storage solution. We are confident that this project will demonstrate further the potential that our hydrogen generator has in promoting the adoption of renewable energy."
- ENDS-
For further information please contact:
| Acta S.p.A: |
|
| Paul Barritt, Chief Financial Officer
| Tel: +39 050 644281 www.actagroup.it |
| Charles Stanley Securities (Nominated Adviser): |
|
| Russell Cook / Jen Boorer | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7149 6000 |
Media enquiries:
| Abchurch Communications Limited Justin Heath / Monique Tsang / Hannah Sharman hannah.sharman@abchurch-group.com |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7398 7725 www.abchurch-group.com |
Notes to Editors
Acta S.p.A. is a developer and provider of a broad range of renewable energy and related products. Its product line includes a range of compact hydrogen generators as well as various portable, mobile and backup fuel cell devices that can make use of locally generated hydrogen in UPS, marine, automotive, electric cycling, scooter, camping and domestic applications. The Company's broader interests include a range of environmental catalysts and solar power projects.
Acta's cost-competitive products are based on its proprietary, inexpensive environmental catalyst and hydrogen conversion technologies. These products help overcome the barriers to the adoption of fuel cells, most notably the lack of a local hydrogen infrastructure.
Acta's low-cost hydrogen generators represent a unique breakthrough in electrolyser technology. They can operate using mains power or intermittent renewable energy, and produce clean, dry hydrogen already at pressure for use in fuel cell and other industrial and consumer applications. This unique combination of features avoids the system complexity and energy cost of further cleaning, drying and compression of the hydrogen, resulting in a simple, compact, low-cost and highly efficient system that is ideally suited for energy conversion and storage applications. In such applications, which include battery replacement and renewable energy storage, low cost and high efficiency are critical to commercial viability, while hydrogen compression is essential for the energy density of the system. No other water electrolyser currently on the market offers this combination of benefits.
Acta is focusing on delivering its products to markets with high volume demand for high-value environmental solutions (transport, UPS, energy and leisure). It is accelerating the commercialisation of its products via partnerships with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), distributors, and agents in these sectors, and intends to drive down production costs at high volume via contract manufacturing.
Acta is marketing its product range to early adopters through its energy products division, Acta Energy. This division's objective is to ensure, through facilitating the widespread adoption of commercial and domestic fuel cell products, that Acta's hydrogen generator becomes a familiar industrial and domestic appliance.
Acta S.p.A. was admitted to trading on AIM in October 2005. It is based near Pisa, Italy, from where it manages a growing overseas distributor network targeting a global fuel cell market estimated to be worth US$26 billion by 2020.