Acta eyes mass deployment of hydrogen generator

LONDON (Reuters) - London-listed clean energy company Acta (ACTAq.L) is hoping its do-it-yourself hydrogen generator will become as common a sight in households as the domestic fridge as it seeks to break even by the end of 2010.

"We want one in every garage," Chief Financial Officer Paul Barritt told Reuters on Thursday.

He said while there are many products available that use low-carbon hydrogen fuel cells, such as bikes, motorboats and buses, the lack of hydrogen infrastructure has barred their entry to market.

"All these fuel-cell products are available but now you have a reason to buy one," Barritt said.

Chief Executive Paolo Bert said its design will be ready for mass production by the summer and it will move production of the electronics to Asia by the second half of the year.

They said the firm, which listed on London's junior AIM market in 2005, was looking for its first full year of profits next year and was confident of meeting revenue targets.

"We'll get to profitability and positive cash flow from our existing resources," Barritt said, adding that the firm did not need funding from the public market.

They were speaking after Acta announced positive test results for its onboard hydrogen fuel enrichment system for diesel trucks, boosting its shares by 37 percent to their highest level since mid-2008.

Acta's system, which generates hydrogen using water available at any petrol station and then injects it to enrich the fuel, gives a fuel saving of 17 percent, or 6,000 euros ($8,065) per year for an average long-distance truck. The system costs 3,000 euros a unit.

"Just through the process of doing the tests, we got a good 20 operators immediately interested in getting this thing onboard," Bert said.

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)