(Sharecast News) - Green hydrogen technology developer Clean Power Hydrogen announced the successful completion of a key milestone in its collaboration with Northern Ireland Water on Wednesday.

The AIM-traded company said it had successfully conducted a functional test of the programme logic control (PLC) of its membrane-free electrolyser (MFE110) for Northern Ireland Water.

It described the PLC as the coded programme responsible for automatically operating the MFE110, including crucial safety features such as shutdown procedures.

The achievement came after a pause in the MFE110 factory acceptance test (FAT) in November, primarily due to safety concerns related to PLC operations.

CPH said the successful completion of the PLC test was overseen by Lagan MEICA, the contractor to Northern Ireland Water, with the milestone signifying that the FAT could now progress to its final stages.

The company said the factory acceptance test was of significant importance, as it marked the first customer acceptance and validation of its scaled electrolyser technology.

"The successful test of the programme logic control allowing for fully automated operation, signifies an important part of the MFE110's journey to commercial production of hydrogen and medical grade oxygen," said chief executive officer Jon Duffy.

"While the pausing of the FAT test in November 2023 due to issues regarding the shutdown mechanism were disappointing, I am extremely proud of the team for re-evaluating the important safety shut down measures, and successfully finding a solution which has put us back on track to completing the MFE110 for our customers in the very near-term future."

At 1106 GMT, shares in Clean Power Hydrogen were down 1.21% at 8.15p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.