Ballard Signs Supply Agreement With FirstEnergy

Published: 06-May-2009

By: Staff Writer Staff Writer Staff Writer

Ballard Power Systems (Ballard), manufacturer of fuel cell products, has signed a supply agreement with FirstEnergy Corp. (FirstEnergy) to deliver a one MW distributed power generation solution for use in a utility load management demonstration project. The project is designed to test the unit's application for providing peaking capacity and load management over a three-year period. The unit is to be delivered in December 2009 and will be located in Ohio.

This sale to FirstEnergy utilizes an outstanding product credit and is subject to the receipt of partial funding from tax grants provided by stimulus funds.

We see the sale to FirstEnergy as an entry step into distributed power generation, in niche applications where Ballard can provide fuel cell solutions which leverage the unique advantages of PEM, such as scalability and responsive load following. We are also exploring other clean energy distributed power generation opportunities using waste hydrogen, said John Sheridan, Ballard's President and CEO. By using our existing heavy-duty FCvelocity(TM) products, we are able to test this market without incurring significant development cost.

This demonstration project will provide valuable information about utility scale fuel cell technologies and their potential to provide cost-effective solutions for peak demand and load management, as well as helping to meet our advanced and renewable energy goals in the states where we operate, said Gary R. Leidich, FirstEnergy Executive Vice President and President of FirstEnergy Generation.

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