. . . . . . . . 40% Rate Hike on Calif. Power? - No Way! . . . . . .
What About Fuel Cells?
I would place my order for converting my home to fuel cells before I would pay a penny of that ridiculous hike. $500 per month peak period was bad enough. . . but $700 per month is outrageous. Let's see now, Plug Power's Home Gen 7000, which looks just like a residential air conditioner is slated to cost between $5000 and $7000. So many people could easily pay for the whole system with a single year's worth of electric bill savings. But that is easier said than done. You just can't buy these things. Not yet. . . . . .but almost! [And this is something we need to watch carefully]
Plug Power has deals in place to deliver home based fuel cells [the Home Gen 7000] to General Electric. gepower.com In a few years they will have different models for various sized houses. Their initial lot didn't meet GE specs for power. The newer units will. . . by coming in at 7 kW of baseload power, 10 kW of peak power, and 15 kW of surge load capacity. plugpower.com
GE has cut the big deals to sell the units via the electric companies across the U.S., [the West most needing to save face with customers]. Plug Power built an enormous factory a few years ago to keep up with fuel cell demand. I don't know their capacity, but I can tell you that they plan on shipping the cells this year. . . .which in my opinion, will garner them both publicity and praise at the height of the 2001 energy crises. It couldn't have worked out better for them if they had planned it from the start.
Now those looking to speculate on the fuel cell sector, I ask you to first take the time to research the companies involved. KNOW YOUR COMPANIES!! Too many people are throwing equal money at all the fuel cell companies. . .as in a basket. I no longer buy the basket method in the case of fuel cells. . . .too many scammys and too broad an industry.
Which Companies Do What?
Keep in mind that Ballard Power is strictly automobiles, Capstone is only about large factory turbines, FCEL also concentrates on industrial power, HPOW is all about portable or personal power for things like golf carts, EFCX makes cell phone batteries, MCEL is a New Jersey company that seems to do lots of R&D, but has no product. . . nor are they proposing a product presently. . . . . . consequently, they reported ZERO revenues last quarter, yet they spent $17 million which they raised by selling stock. Ah-HEM!!! . . . .they are really into "establishing partnerships" though, according to a letter to shareholders released this week by the CEO. . . . A significant part of Millennium Cell's business plan is to form key strategic partnerships with leading companies in selected industries.
Mechanical Technology [MKTY] holds shares in quite a number of fuel cell and alternative fuel companies, including PLUG [though they have since sold half their holdings]. . . Detroit Energy - DTE and MKTY brought PLUG public. I would consider shares in MKTY and in PLUG and perhaps some UTX on the home fuel cell / California Energy Crises speculation. [Interestingly Southern California Gas was selling shares in PLUG in the last half of 2000.]
Plug Power has taken much flack recently with upgrades and downgrades coming in frequently . . . and their CFO leaving for "family reasons". . . but they are the pure play that is focused strictly on fuel cells for the home, which is where the interest will peak this year. . . .they have been showing prototypes for several years. . . and according to the company will begin selling units "sometime in 2001". . . . hopefully sooner than later. . . and there is the risk. And Plug Power is no stranger to losing money. They lost 86 million on revenues of just $8.4 million, primarily from government contracts. So know the bad with the good.
United Technologies is not a pure play, but holds a company called International Fuel Cells, which they may spin off later in the year. They seem to lack focus as they work to supply automobile cells as well as those for homes and businesses. But I'd be willing to bet that they are focusing in on residential products with each bit of news coming out of California. Hard to profit from them at this time, however.
So let's keep in mind that there are potential opportunities here as bad news increases in California, but not without risk.
Rande Is |
