1. Let's start with the market itself. Solid oxide technology has been around for years, but it feels as though the conversation has shifted recently. What do you think has changed, and why do you believe solid oxide's moment has arrived?

For years, solid oxide has been recognised as a promising and highly efficient technology - but it was still finding its place. Today that's very different. The need for solid oxide has become hard to ignore.

AI, data centres and broader electrification are driving up demand, and the reality is that many grids are struggling to keep up. Developers are facing lengthy grid connection queues, sometimes into the years, and that carries a real cost. Organisations are starting to look beyond the traditional grid models and are increasingly turning to on-site, behind-the-meter generation to secure the power they need.

For many of these applications, it's not only about access. Quality of power is also critical. As grids age and renewable generation makes up larger proportions of the energy mix, organisations are paying much closer attention to reliability and resilience. They're also thinking more carefully about the impact that power systems can have on the communities around them, including air quality and noise.

These are all areas where solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) really stand out. If getting a grid connection is slowing down your project, being able to deploy on-site generation becomes a very compelling proposition. And if you're running a critical application like a data centre, reliability is every bit as important as time-to-power in the first place.  For data centres in particular, SOFCs are proving to be a strong fit. Their modular nature supports phased expansion, and their native 800V direct current power output aligns with emerging industry standards. They also don’t consume water, which is becoming an increasingly important differentiator.

Just as importantly, the technology itself has matured. Years of engineering and product development have transformed it into a much more robust and commercially viable solution.

That's why we're now seeing triple-digit megawatt supply agreements being signed and solid oxide starting to compete directly with conventional combustion technologies for on-site power. It feels like we're at a genuine inflection point: The market need is clear, and that's creating real and immediate opportunities.

2. Ceres has taken a different approach to traditional solid oxide technology by operating at lower temperatures. Why is this so significant?

Traditional solid oxide technology typically operates at very high temperatures, usually over 800°C. The challenge is when you're working at those temperatures, you need specialist materials such as high-temperature ceramics, expensive and fragile seals and high-alloy metals. That drives up system cost and make them less forgiving in real-world operation.

Ceres’ approach is different. Rather than trying to make high-temperature systems work better, we’ve developed solid oxide chemistry that performs at much lower temperatures, in the range of 450°C and 630°C, while still delivering world-class efficiency. Operating at those temperatures might sound like a technical detail, but it fundamentally changes what’s possible from a product perspective, opening the door to low-cost raw materials such as ferritic stainless steels - like what you'd find in a car exhaust.

We print our cell chemistry directly onto a steel substrate and combine it with low-cost, automotive-grade materials. That gives our technology platform Ceres Endura™ true mechanical robustness and creates something very different to traditional solid oxide technology. Instead of a technology that uses specialist materials and components, suddenly you have a platform designed for the real world. Our stack can handle thermal cycling, vibration, emergency shutdowns and rapid changes in power demand without the same concerns around fragility.

That robustness isn't just important in operation, it's important for scale. When you're manufacturing and deploying technology at volume, you need something that's durable, repeatable and forgiving. Using steel allows us to do that, while also having the added benefits of being a lower-cost, abundant and highly recyclable material.

I always say our technology is built to “endure” and that’s exactly where our product name comes from - Ceres Endura™: built to last.

3. Ceres Endura™ is described as a “"dual-use platform”. For someone hearing that term for the first time, what does it really mean and why does it matter?

The idea of platform engineering isn't new. It’s something industries like automotive have been doing for years. Rather than designing everything from scratch, you create a common core architecture and then build different products as derivatives from it.

More broadly, I think it's a reflection of the energy transition. The future is unlikely to be defined by a single technology. Markets will evolve, demand will shift and new opportunities will emerge. Building a platform that can serve multiple pathways gives our partners the ability to adapt and grow as those markets develop.

4. One of the themes that comes through strongly with Ceres Endura™ is flexibility. Where do you see that flexibility creating the most value for customers and partners?

We've already talked about manufacturing flexibility and the ability to build different products from the same platform. But for us, flexibility goes much further than that.

Firstly, fuel flexibility has always been one of the strengths of solid oxide technology. Ceres Endura™ can operate on natural gas today while also providing a pathway to lower-carbon fuels such as ammonia, methanol and hydrogen in the future. That means an asset deployed today doesn't need to be replaced as markets evolve. It gives organisations a practical route through the energy transition without re-investing in alternative technology.

We're also exploring “reversible” operation by switching flexibly between fuel cell and electrolysis mode within the same system. In simple terms, that means a system could generate power when it's needed, then use low-cost electricity at other times to produce hydrogen for later use. You could think of these systems as flexible gas generators that can make their own gas when electricity is cheap.

Ultimately, our view is that the energy transition won't take a single, linear path. Demand shifts, policy evolves, fuel economics change and technologies can move from niche to mainstream much faster than people expect. We designed Ceres Endura™ to be flexible because we wanted a platform that can continue creating value as fuels, operating requirements and energy systems evolve.

5. If you were having this conversation again in five years' time, what do you hope partners and the industry will be saying about Ceres Endura™?

For me, the next five years are all about continued scale and growth. We've done the hard work developing robust, scalable solid oxide technology, and we're already seeing it deployed at meaningful scale through our partner Doosan Fuel Cell's first 50 MW plant. We're incredibly fortunate to be working with some of the forward-looking companies in the energy sector, and together we're focused on accelerating deployment at industrial scale.

One thing people sometimes forget is that incumbent combustion technologies have already been through decades of optimisation, manufacturing scale-up and cost reduction. As solid oxide moves into higher production volumes, we expect to realise many of the same advantages through scale and learning.

Five years or so from now, I'd like to see us working alongside our manufacturing partners at gigawatt-scale volumes. Ultimately, if we've done our job well, I’d like to think Ceres Endura™ will truly be recognised as the industry standard solid oxide platform.