"This agreement shows further progress in accelerating market adoption of Ballard's leading fuel cell products," said Noordin Nanji, Ballard's Chief Customer Officer. "This new strategic relationship with IdaTech broadens our market focus with an important new fuelling solution and deepens our market traction by establishing another important customer relationship in the fuel cell backup power market."

Auxiliary and backup power solutions based on fuel cell technology deliver a number of significant advantages over conventional batteries and diesel generators, including: higher reliability over a wide range of operating conditions; lower maintenance costs; longer operating life; reduced size, weight, installation footprint and environmental impact. In addition, the use of an alternative fuelling solution based on methanol will favourably position fuel cells for applications where a liquid fuel is more desirable.

The next generation IdaTech 250 watt iGen(TM) fuel cell power supply is designed as an auxiliary power unit for a number of applications, potentially including recreational vehicles and telecommunications backup power. IdaTech has extensive capability and experience in reforming fuel, such as methanol, and in systems integration. The three-year supply agreement will generate approximately 100 fuel cell product unit shipments from Ballard to IdaTech in the first year, with the potential for more than 1,000 units over the full term of the agreement.

"This agreement marks the initiation of a strategic partnership with Ballard, the leading provider of fuel cells in commercial markets like auxiliary and backup power," said Hal Koyama, IdaTech's Chief Executive Officer. "We selected Ballard's Mark1020 ACS(TM) for our product because it is the best choice for our iGen(TM) product line in terms of overall performance, reliability and price."

About Ballard Power Systems

Ballard Power Systems (Toronto:BLD.TO - News)(NasdaqGM:BLDP - News) is recognizedd as a world leader in the design, development, manufacture and sale of zero-emission hydrogen fuel cells. Ballard's mission is to accelerate fuel cell market adoption. To learn more about what Ballard is doing with Power to Change the World®, visit www.ballard.com.