Ballard Power Systems — the producer of fuel cell stacks based in Vancouver, Canada — announced that it will continue to be the exclusive supplier of fuel stack cells for Plug Power. The two companies have renewed their existing agreement through 2017, with the option for one-year extensions after that, according to a Ballard news release.
Plug Power — the Latham, New York, based provider of fuel cells for forklifts — is among the leading supplier of fuel cells for forklifts. And the company’s CEO, Andrew Marsh, recently told Bloomberg News that aid the company plans on expanding into other markets, including airport support vehicles and refrigerated truck.
Plug Power’s move comes as the US Department of Energy expects to award $30 million in research grants to expand the use of fuel cells, which are more environmentally friendly than other vehicle fuels such as gasoline, diesel and propane.
Marsh said this year the company expects to report its first profit since it went public in 1999, attributing the success to growing sales in its fuel cell-powered forklifts. The company wants to create an industrial ecosystem powered by fuel cells, with forklifts being just the first type of vehicle to use the low emissions energy source. Forklifts are only a niche to sustain the company, which now intends to expand into new areas where fuel cells can compete with electricity from fossil fuels.