ACTA.L Regulatory News (ACTA)

Acta S.p.A.

("Acta" or "the Company")

Acta Receives EU Grant Confirmation

Acta S.p.A (AIM:ACTA), the clean energy products company, is pleased to announce that the Alkammonia grant project, which is led by project leader AFC Energy Plc, has received notification of conditional grant approval. The project, which is funded by the EU Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH-JU) to develop ammonia-fed alkaline fuel cells, is worth up to €1.96 million.

The Company is due to receive up to €398,000 for its participation as partner in the project over the next three years. The project approval, which is subject to final negotiation and agreement, is expected to be in place to enable the project to commence from March 2013.

Acta will be providing an ammonia cracking reactor and catalysts to the project. Ammonia has high hydrogen content and can be easily converted to hydrogen by processing (cracking) it through a catalyst. Acta's ammonia catalyst contains no precious metals and performs better than commercial platinum group metals catalysts in converting the ammonia to hydrogen, which, in turn, powers the fuel cell. Alkaline fuel cells such as AFC Energy's fuel cells have the advantage of being able to tolerate ammonia traces in the fuel stream.

Ammonia is a carbon free fuel, and in its liquid form at 20°C and 9 bar pressure, it has a higher hydrogen content than liquid hydrogen or hydrogen compressed at 900 bar. Emissions from the ammonia cracking plus alkaline fuel cell are only water and nitrogen. Acta has previously been engaged in grant-funded and joint development projects for the development of ammonia-cracking catalysts for automotive applications. The Company believes that this technology is complementary to its award-winning water electrolysers for PEM fuel cells and other applications where pure hydrogen is needed.

Paolo Bert, Chief Executive of Acta commented:

"We are very pleased to have been invited to participate in this project for the development of ammonia fed alkaline fuel cell systems and to receive confirmation of this grant award. Acta has a long history in developing alkaline catalysis and fuel cells with the use of ammonia as a hydrogen vector. We are excited that the technology is now being recognised as viable for a number of applications and markets."

- ENDS-

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About Acta S.p.A.

Acta S.p.A. is a developer and manufacturer of a range of clean energy products. Its product line includes market-leading compact hydrogen generators (electrolysers) which produce pure, dry and compressed hydrogen in a way that is easy-to-use and completely safe, and the Company is committed to integrating its award-winning electrolysers with renewable energy sources.

Acta's cost-competitive electrolysers 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 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, back-up power, 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 S.p.A. is based near Pisa, Italy, and was admitted to trading on AIM in October 2005.

www.actagroup.it