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To: Victor Lazlo who wrote (103338)	5/13/2000 11:27:00 AM
From: H James Morris	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Victor, yes I know. When I dumped most of my techs at the end of March...plug and bldp went too. I still find them interesting companies though. >Latham, New York, May 4 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Plug Power Inc. fell 27 percent after the New York fuel-cell developer said its cells don't meet the specifications of General Electric Co., one of its largest shareholders and joint-venture partner. Plug Power fell 21 7/8 to 59 7/16. The stock, the 15th biggest decliner in U.S. markets, had more than tripled this year on growing investor interest in fuel cells. The company said General Electric no longer is obligated to honor an agreement with Plug Power to purchase 485 fuel cells. It declined to discuss the nature of the problems in meeting GE's design standards. ``The earnings models for 2000 were driven on the presumption that they had an iron-clad agreement with General Electric,'' said Joseph Arsenio, an analyst with Chase H&Q, who has a ``buy'' rating on Plug Power. ``Clearly this news had a negative impact on the shares in the short run.'' Shares of Latham, New York-based Plug Power's largest shareholder, Mechanical Technology Inc., fell 5 1/16, or 30 percent, to 12. Mechanical Technology, based in Albany, New York, owns 31.7 percent of Plug Power. General Electric agreed to pay more than $21,000 for each cell for a total price of $10.3 million, said Hugh Holman, an analyst at CIBC Oppenheimer & Co. Holman doesn't rate Plug Power's stock. By 2003, the cells will cost $3,000 to $5,000 each, Plug Power said. General Electric, based in Fairfield, Connecticut, said it plans to purchase most of the fuel cells it agreed to buy by mid 2001. It said the problems Plug is experiencing aren't unusual. Not a Surprise ``Plug Power is developing new technology and this type of a delay can be expected,'' said Jeff Ignaszak, a spokesman for General Electric's Power Systems unit. GE Power Systems will continue to honor a services agreement with Plug Power and will continue to support Plug's research and development at General Electric facilities in Schenectady, New York. Plug Power, which doesn't expect to be profitable until 2004, is planning to begin selling its cells commercially next year. Its shares have risen more than fourfold since it went public in October. Fuel cells have sparked investor interest because they generate electricity through a chemical reaction that emits almost no air pollution. This is particularly attractive to automakers and power companies, which are facing increasingly stringent air- pollution regulations over the next few years. May/04/2000 16:47