London Aim-listed Ceres Power, a company that plans to mass produce solid oxide fuel cells for the combined heat and power market, has just signed up a critically important partner, Centrica. Centrica, formerly known as British Gas, is the dominant player in the business of providing gas to British homes for heating and cooking.

This could be a breakthrough development. By using the fuel cell to make electricity in the household, fed by gas from the UK's gas network, the national grid is bypassed leading to much lower power costs. Typically, two-thirds of the retail price of electricity are in its distribution from the power plant to the end consumer.

On a more practical level, a boiler takes up a lot of space, but this fuel cell isn't much bigger than a pack of CD cases. If Ceres Power do become the first company to mass manufacture fuel cells for the domestic market, their target has to be to bring costs down to that of a replacement boiler.

Then the world's fuel cell market just might be their oyster.

Ceres Power closed on Friday at 122p.