Ceramic Fuel Cells Regulatory News (CFU)

5 Feb 2008 07:00

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited05 February 2008 5 February 2008 Ceramic Fuel Cells partners with CeramTec to secure volume supply of fuel cell components CFCL to supply Ceramic Powders to CeramTec Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited ("CFCL"), a global leader in fuel cell development,has signed a Co-operation and Supply agreement with CeramTec AG of Germany tosecure a high volume supply of fuel cell components. CeramTec is a world leader in producing high-quality industrial ceramic productsfor a wide range of applications in the automotive, electronic, medical andmachine and plant construction industry. In line with CFCL's commercialisation strategy the partnership will combineCFCL's and CeramTec's expertise in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) with CeramTec'smanufacturing capabilities and expertise, securing the supply chain for massmanufacture of high quality fuel cells at commercially viable unit costs. Under the agreement, CFCL and CeramTec will collaborate to produce advancedsolid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) components, in particular anode supported cells.CFCL will license its relevant intellectual property to CeramTec and provideongoing assistance to optimize the performance of the cell against CFCL'srigorous specifications. CFCL and CeramTec will also collaborate to continuallyimprove cell performance and manufacturing processes and to reduce unit costs. CFCL will also supply a range of high quality ceramic powders to CeramTec,including from CFCL's powder plant in Merseyside, UK. CeramTec will use thesepowders to make fuel cell components for re-supply to CFCL and potentially othercustomers. Once optimised, CeramTec will supply fuel cells to CFCL at pre-agreed pricesuntil December 2011, securing long term cost visibility for CFCL. Supply of thefuel cells is expected to commence in the second half of 2008, with increases inforecast volumes from 2009. CeramTec manufactures fuel cells at its plant in Marktredwitz, Germany.CeramTec's world class manufacturing facility is fully equipped to produce highquality fuel cells, with additional plans to invest in new equipment to increaseits capacity to 400,000 fuel cells per year from 2009. CeramTec's manufacturingprocesses are certified to ISO standards 9001 and 14000. CFCL will continue to produce fuel cells at its Melbourne R&D and pilotmanufacturing facility, leveraging its 15 years of development expertise todrive continued improvements in cell performance. This follows a similar agreement CFCL announced with H.C. Starck of Germany on29 January 2008. Commenting, Brendan Dow, Managing Director of Ceramic Fuel Cells, said: "Together, CeramTec and H.C.Starck are two of the world's leading developers andmanufacturers of advanced ceramic products. Combining CFCL's know how with ourpartners' manufacturing capability secures our supply chain for fuel cellcomponents, and allows us to move to volume manufacture quickly and at low risk.Importantly, CeramTec will also purchase powders from our UK plant, whichfurther reduces supply chain risk and creates significant potential revenuestreams. " Ends For further information please contact: Ceramic Fuel CellsAndrew Neilson Tel: +61 419 950 771 Email: investor@cfcl.com.au Hogarth Partnership (PR for CFCL) Tel: +44 (0) 20 7357 9477Sarah MacLeod / Sarah Richardson / Vicky Watkins Libertas Capital (NOMAD for CFCL) Tel: +44 (0) 20 7569 9650Aamir Quraishi / Andrew Hardy CeramTec AGDieter Bender Tel.: +49 9231 69 213 Email: d.bender@ceramtec.deDr. Stefan Stolz Tel.: +49 9231 69 449 Email: s.stolz@ceramtec.de About CFCL Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited is a world leader in developing solid oxide fuel cell(SOFC) technology which can provide reliable, energy efficient, high-quality,and low-emission electricity from widely available natural gas and renewablefuels. CFCL is developing SOFC products for small-scale on-site micro combinedheat and power (m-CHP) and distributed generation units that co-generateelectricity and heat for domestic use. CFCL is developing m-CHP products with leading appliance partners and utilitycustomers in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Holland, and Japan. CFCL is listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM market and the AustralianSecurities Exchange (code CFU). www.cfcl.com.au About CeramTec AG CeramTec AG is an international group of companies with more than 3000 employeesat 15 production sites in Europe, North and South America and Asia and salesrevenue of 350 million Euros. CeramTec has been developing fuel cells since 1990 and has significant expertisein industrialising advanced ceramic products. CeramTec has invested 8 millionEuros in the development of SOFC components, and will use its existing massproduction facilities to scale up production of fuel cell components. CeramTec's fuel cell development and manufacturing operations are located at its66.000 m2 production facility in Marktredwitz, Germany. These facilitiescomprise state of the art continuous tape casters and automated screen printerslocated in conditioned clean room facilities, production rooms for slurry andpaste preparation plus sintering facilities supported by ISO-certified qualitycontrol processes. www.ceramtec.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange