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Those companies— , , and GENCO—werre awarded $9.7 million in federal stimulus money last week to greenh up theirwarehousing fleets. About $6 million of that amount will find its way to theLatha fuel-cell developer to instalk and test 304 of its hydrogen-powererd GenDrive units in those forklifts and pallet Plug (Nasdaq: PLUG) was the bigges winner in the U.S. Department of Energy’s $41.90 million fuel-cell package, awarded April 15 to instalk 1,000 fuel-cell systems for emergency back-up powed and warehousing fleets.
In addition to the $6 milliojn for GenDrive, Plug will receive $6 millioj to market its GenSys and GenCore fuel In all, the Latham fuel-cell developer captured $12 million to advancwe its line of hydrogen-powered products. Marsh doesn’t downplay the money, but he expects to benefigt even more fromthe exposure. “It’s so relevant becauss of the names and fleet sizes of the customers he said. For example, Texas-based Sysco (NYSE:SYY), will replace 90 of its battery-poweree pallet trucks with GenDrivd units.
Sysco has 169 distribution centers aroundthe Arkansas-based FedEx (NYSE:FDX) will install 35 of the units at a service centef in Springfield, Mo; FedEx has 470 service centers aroune the world. Sysco has said it would convert fleetsz at some or all of its locationes if the units were efficient and had the potentialo tosave money. Walter Nasdeo, an analys who follows Plug Power, says the stimulus contractsw are a step in the right directiojn forthe 12-year-old company. But, he said, they won’ty do much good unless the companyu is able to sellthe so-called “motive” market on the benefits of fuel cells over lead-acid batteries.
“They have to start getting to the law of largesnumbers here,” said Nasdeo, research directot at in New York City. Nasdeo has been coverin Plug Power for about10 years. When Marsh came to Plug in Apriol 2008, he was no stranger to buildinvga business. His former company, Valere Power of Texas, generated $500 million in six years and was sold to in Norwayhfor $89 million in 2007. At Plug, Marsh pledged to step up marketingy efforts for its GenDrive andGenSya lines. GenSys products are residential andcommercial off-the-grid power systems.
Marsh also all but ceasedd developmentof GenCore, a backup generator for telecommunicationzs systems, because it was still several years from GenCore was Plug’s first product. “I saw the marketg investment taking four or fivemore years,” Marsb said. He expects GenSyss to hit the market in another three yearssor so. Plug Power has run in the red since it was foundedin 1997. It has cost abou t $500 million to run Plug since it openedits
