Stephen Bennington, Cella Energy – national winner of Shell Springboard 2011- writes:
It came as a surprise to us all and has made a substantial and continuing impact on our development.
Cella Energy is a UK university spin-out, with technology in safe solid-state hydrogen storage materials. We make a plastic-like chemical that releases a lot of hydrogen very quickly when heated to just above the boiling point of water. It has a low toxicity and the potential to be cheap when manufactured in bulk.
We were only able to make the material at the laboratory scale when we applied for the programme, but winning such a high profile award gave us credibility – which combined with the profile that went with it helped us secure significant venture funding from organisations such as Space Florida (the body charged with creating employment in Florida and helping NASA commercialise.) In the first year we focused on ways of making the material in bulk, using industrial techniques rather than complex laboratory processes. The next stage was to develop two proof-of-concept devices to show that it was possible to turn the material into useful energy: the first was a cartridge built into the wing of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and the other a 1-2kW device aimed at automotive applications.
Although Cella was named national winner of the Shell Springboard programme in 2011, we’re still getting value from it four years later in the form of useful publicity. We recently secured a large contract with the French Aerospace company Safran to develop hydrogen-based, back-up and emergency power equipment for use on-board aircraft, and we are in the process of negotiating other contracts with companies in others sectors.
Given that so many technology start-ups fail in the first few years, the fact that Cella still exists is a success in itself. But that it is also thriving and growing is in part due to the credibility we have garnered through receiving support and funding from Shell Springboard.