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Gold/Mining/Energy : Global Thermoelectric - SOFC Fuel cells (GLE:TSE) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Earl Falwell who wrote (2405)	6/27/1999 11:09:00 AM
From: EIGHT-N	Respond to of 6016

while you're at it care to comment on this old PR. i was cleaning out the old emailer and found this dated feb 13 1999. GE To Market Plug Power Fuel Cell Technology NEW YORK (Reuters) - GE Power Systems said Thursday it has agreed to market the fuel cell expertise of Plug Power, a New York research venture whose advances have made this technology a viable option for small-scale power generation for the first time. The General Electric Co. subsidiary said the venture it formed with Plug Power expects to offer residential-sized systems in 2001 for $7,500 to $10,000 and projects the price will drop about $3,500 in mass production -- which would allow the production of electricity for seven to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour. That is below the price paid for electricity by most U.S. homeowners. ''Globally, there are more than 1.2 billion households, many without electricity,'' said Gary Mittleman, Plug Power's chief executive officer. ''Others have electricity that is unreliable, too costly or generated by high emission, fossil fuel-burning power plants.'' GE Power said it has agreed to create GE Fuel Cell Systems with Plug Power to distribute fuel cells worldwide. GE Power has a 75 interest in the new venture and Plug Power owns 25 percent. In addition, GE Power has acquired 10 percent of Plug Power, with an option to increase its position to 20 percent. Both companies declined to discuss the new venture's financial terms, but Plug Power spokesman John Mousaw said GE's stake represents a new investment that reduces the ownership of Plug Power's other joint owners -- DTE Energy Co. (NYSE:DTE - news) and Mechanical Technology Inc. (OTC BB:MKTY - news) -- equally. The ''basis of Plug Power's ownership continues to evolve,'' Mousaw continued, declining to elaborate. GE Fuel Cell Systems will market and service Plug Power-designed and manufactured fuel cells with capacities up to 35 kilowatts, for residential and small business power applications on a worldwide basis. It plans to work with selected resellers who are likely to include companies already working with GE Power Systems, including natural gas and propane distributors and electric utilities. As part of the joint venture agreement, it continued, Plug Power will work closely with GE's Corporate Research & Development Center for product development and manufacturing support. Mousaw said Plug Power plans to do the manufacturing at its present Latham, N.Y., facilities. Staffing there, which now totals about 160, is expected to increase to 225 by the end of 1999 and 300 a year later. Field-testing of the fuel cells will begin this year and continue through the year 2000, GE said. Fuel cells generate electricity through an electrochemical process, instead of combustion, that mixes such fuels as natural gas, propane, methanol and fuel oil with air and water. Fuel cells have no moving parts, are virtually noiseless, and produce pure water and excess heat as byproducts. The initial commercial units will operate on natural gas, propane, or methanol and are expected to convert 40 percent of the energy in the fuel into electricity, or achieve 40 percent electrical efficiency. When excess heat generated by the fuel cell is captured and used for hot water or heating, overall efficiency can exceed 70 percent.