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Technology Stocks : Ballard Power -world leader zero-emission PEM fuel cells -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkeye who wrote (2153)	4/4/1998 10:26:00 AM
From: yard_man	Respond to of 5827

I know what you're talking about. It is a part of my job to know. Gas turbines are king for now and people aren't building a lot of base load capacity. Tell me something I don't know. This isn't because economies of scale have been eliminated in generation. It is a product of two issues: 1) prior overbuilding and 2) the uncertain regulatory environment we are now in. Fuel cells are going to have a future and a bright one. Don't get me wrong, but they cannot provide power in an economically competitive fashion to a coal plant. You are correct that there are many nuclear facilities which have proved to be much more costly to operate than orginally thought and through overbuilding and the abundance of relatively cheap natural gas -- these are stranded assets. However, just because a generation station is large does not mean that it is uneconomic. One of California's problems with high cost electricity resulted from the big push to alternative energy sources, see PURPA. Utilities were forced to invest in a lot of energy projects that were uneconomic. These assets, if they become stranded will become stranded due to natural gas fired combustion turbines or base load plants that are being operated more cheaply out of the area. If you think simply or generically that small scale projects are making the larger projects uneconomic you are sadly mistaken and know nothing about the economics of power supply. Larger projects will be built again when the deregulation brouhaha is over. Longer term coal reserves are much greater than natural gas reserves. Fuel cells will have a place, but if you are investing BLDPF thinking that fuel cells will become a major source of supply, well ... lotsa luck. It will not happen.

To: Hawkeye who wrote (2153)	4/4/1998 3:37:00 PM
From: Lee	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 5827

Hawkeye,..Re:<<most utilities are looking into fuel cells as well as gas turbines for distributed power generation.>> Hi Hawkeye, I've watched BLDPF since last fall thinking it was too expensive to get into without a market product but it appears I was wrong. In my experience (controls), gas turbines are highly economical where standby/backup or remote extra power generation is required. This was in '76-'79, e.g. Hilton Head, St. Croix, Sasketchewan for a few. It would follow that distributed power would be significantly more cost effective as well as more conducive to bottom line gains in this new de-regulated environment. Based on these new economic realities, what are your thoughts on getting in now? Thanks in advance Lee