Irish, buying HPOW at 10.5 here, the news today provides fuel for near future pump by the media in light of the CA blackouts throughout the summer.
Regards,
Tom
Thursday May 10, 9:40 am Eastern Time
Press Release
H Power To Market Residential Fuel Cells For California
Market
Units to be Distributed by Altair Energy LLC
H Power Also Comments On Delivery Schedule to Energy Co-Opportunity
CLIFTON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 2001--H Power Corp. (NASDAQ: HPOW -
news), a leading fuel cell development company, today announced that it is working jointly with its
partner, Energy Co-Opportunity, Inc. (ECO), to market a residential fuel cell system for the
rapidly-growing California market.
These units will be designed to meet the needs of California consumers who are particularly concerned
about power quality in the face of possible brownouts and blackouts. H Power expects to start
manufacturing and shipping these units on a limited basis within the next several months.
To implement this initiative, H Power and ECO also announced the appointment of Altair Energy LLC
(Altair) as their non-exclusive distributor for the Southern California market, to sell, install and service
these units for their California sales program. Altair, based in Golden, Colorado, is a distributed
generation service company that currently provides customers in San Diego with standardized solar
electric system solutions and a full range of services that offer homeowners security against intermittent
power outages and electric rate increases.
Working jointly with ECO to expand H Power's near-term product offerings, H Power is designing a
residential unit that will provide environmentally-friendly electricity, independent of electric utilities. Its
systems run on fuels that are available now - natural gas or propane. Electric and gas utilities in the
U.S., Canada, Japan, France and Scandinavia are currently testing similar H Power fuel cell
generators. The Company sees a strong demand for this product based on the number of inquiries it
has received from people in California and other parts of the country with energy supply problems.
H. Frank Gibbard, H Power's chief executive officer, said, ``We believe H Power's residential fuel cell
system may be the solution that many Californians are looking for.'' Kirk Stokes, president of Altair
said, ``We are very excited to offer customers fuel cells as a residential electric service. Providing
consumers with the ability to produce their own household electricity is essential in today's California
energy climate, and we believe the H Power fuel cell will be a power system many consumers will choose.''
Today's announcement is in addition to H Power's existing $81 million agreement with ECO to provide residential cogeneration fuel cell
systems to ECO's electric cooperative members. Under the terms of its original agreement with ECO, large-scale commercial deliveries
are scheduled to begin after 10 commercial units have been shipped. H Power believes it is on schedule to complete the ECO beta
testing program, and that it will reach its milestone by shipping initial commercial units to ECO and other customers before year-end.
However, the Company believes these initial shipments of commercial units are unlikely to trigger the large-scale commercial delivery
schedule under the ECO agreement. Also, the initial commercial shipments may be delayed if the beta program is not completed on
schedule. Additionally, ECO and H Power are currently exploring a possible extension of the delivery schedule beyond the 30- month
period to help capture potential system cost savings and additional markets for the commercial stationary power products.
Bill Cetti, president and chief executive officer of ECO said, ``We are pleased to be able to work with H Power and Altair on the new
California program. We also continue to work closely with H Power to refine the fuel cell systems to best meet the needs of our rural
electric cooperative customers and move as quickly as possible towards commercial production.''
About H Power Corp.
H Power Corp. is a leading fuel cell development company and one of the first providers to complete a commercial sale of a
proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system. PEM fuel cells generate electricity efficiently and cleanly from the electrochemical
reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is typically derived from conventional fuels such as natural gas or propane, and oxygen is
drawn from the air. H Power's fuel cells are designed to provide electricity for a wide range of stationary, portable and mobile
applications including residential cogeneration products for rural, remote homes, and backup power units for mobile applications. For
additional information, please visit our website at www.hpower.com.
About ECO
Energy Co-Opportunity (ECO) is an energy services cooperative established in 1998 to be the preferred provider of distributed energy
solutions to the U.S. electric cooperative industry. ECO provides electric cooperatives with access to distributed generation
technologies, including fuel cells, gas turbines and photovoltaics; access to alternative fuels such as propane and natural gas, and
consulting, education and training in all aspects of energy diversification. ECO is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. For more
information, go to www.e-coop.org.
About Altair Energy LLC
Altair Energy is a distributed generation service company headquartered in Golden, Colorado with operations in San Diego, California.
Altair is one of the first companies in the nation to make it easy for electric utility customers to offset a portion of their electric needs with
clean onsite power using utility-interconnected solar electric (photovoltaic) systems. In addition to its Colorado-based program, Altair
presently operates the San Diego SunChoice program in which Altair customers are provided standardized system solutions and a full
range of services that result in added homeowner security against electric rate increases and intermittent power outages. For more
information, go to www.altairenergy.com. |
