UK-based alternative energy company Ceres Power has signed a deal to supply its products to Bord Gáis.
Ceres develops fuel cell technology for use in small scale combined heat and power (CHP) products for homes. It says its gas-fired CHP products are capable of generating all of the hot water and central heating, and most of the electricity for a typical home, from a single wall unit.
Under the agreement - Ceres's first outside the UK - Bord Gáis will pay the UK company £1.6m (€1.8m), including an up-front £1m during the development and trial of the CHP products.
Bord Gáis will also place an order for 16,000 of Ceres's CHP products over a four-year period, subject to completion of the initial phase and an agreement on the price. If this goes ahead, Ceres will then sell the products exclusively to Bord Gáis for a four-year period, anticipated to start in early 2012.
Bord Gáis chief executive John Mullins said the CHP product had the potential to deliver significant energy savings and lower carbon emissions.
