FuelCellsWorks

Raymond and Plug Power Hold Press Conference to Discuss Distribution Agreement

LATHAM, N.Y. – Plug Power Inc. (Nasdaq:PLUG), a leader in providing clean, reliable energy solutions, today announced it will be displaying its GenDrive™ product suite at the NA 2010 trade show in Cleveland, OH, April 26-29. NA 2010 is the largest material handling and logistics show in North America, attracting over 15,000 industry professionals. Plug Power will display its class-1, class-2 and class-3 GenDrive fuel cell power units in sit down counterbalanced, stand up reach and rider pallet trucks, respectively. GenDrive fuel cells replace lead-acid batteries in electric lift trucks, offering the customer increased productivity and lower operational costs with quick refuel and constant voltage.

Also on display will be a compact hydrogen fueling dispenser, highlighting the ease and convenience of opportunity fueling for lift truck operators. By eliminating large battery rooms and charging infrastructure, customers are able to expand valuable floor space for its business. GenDrive power units can be fueled in as little as 60 seconds, substantially reducing vehicle and personnel downtime. And by utilizing hydrogen as a fuel source, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced. The only byproducts generated by fuel cells are heat and water.

“During 2009, Plug Power saw considerable traction in the material handling market with significant customers. These customers have realized increased productivity as high as 15% and reduction in its carbon footprint up to 90%,” said Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug Power. “The NA 2010 show expands our network base, allowing attendees to see first hand how GenDrive fuel cell solutions are a real and viable solution to improve their operations today.”

Taking advantage of the focused material handling audience in Cleveland, Plug Power and The Raymond Corporation will be holding a press conference in the NA 2010 press conference room (Room 10) on Tuesday, April 27 at 9:00 am. Andy Marsh and Chuck Pascarelli, President of Sales and Marketing Division for The Raymond Corporation, will expand upon the recently announced distribution agreement between the two companies.

As an independent distributor, The Raymond Corporation and its network of authorized Sales and Service Centers will sell, rent and lease Plug Power’s GenDrive fuel cell units to material handling customers in North America. This relationship couples Raymond’s leading AC technology with Plug Power’s proven GenDrive solution, bringing superior power and performance to the electric lift truck market.

“Raymond understands that hydrogen fuel cells will have a firm place in the material handling industry moving forward,” said Chuck Pascarelli. “And as industry leaders, we want to always provide our customers with the most cutting-edge lift truck power solution available. As the fuel cell market leader, Plug Power offered the ideal supplier.”

Plug Power will be exhibiting in booth 605 and The Raymond Corporation will be in booths 632 and 637. The show is open to the public. Investors and customers are encouraged to attend. For more information about NA 2010, visit www.nashow.com. The press release announcing the distribution agreement with The Raymond Corporation on March 11, 2010 can be located on the Plug Power Web site at www.plugpower.com/newsroom.

About Plug Power Inc.

Plug Power Inc. (Nasdaq:PLUG) is an established leader in the development and deployment and commercialization of alternative fuel cell technology. Revolutionizing the way the world thinks about clean energy, Plug Power has installed more commercial fuel cell systems in the motive and continuous power markets than anyone else in the industry. The Company is actively engaged with private and public customers in targeted markets throughout the world. For more information about how to join Plug Power’s energy revolution as an investor, customer, supplier or strategic partner, please visit www.plugpower.com.

An oxygen membrane can separate atmospheric air into pure oxygen and nitrogen. It consists of a sandwich of three layers of ceramic materials with different properties. The first layer is an electrode where the separation of oxygen and nitrogen starts. The intermediate layer is an electrolyte which allows the oxygen to pass through as ions. The last electrode transforms the oxygen ions into pure oxygen

Ceramic materials are used, for example, for components which can separate pure oxygen from air. The component is a sandwich of three different ceramic layers and its manufacture currently involves a three-stage process. With a new grant from the Danish Council for Independent Research, Technology and Production Sciences, the Fuel Cells and Solid State Chemistry Division at Risø DTU will seek to manufacture complex ceramic components by means of well-known, simple methods. The components can also be used for magnetic refrigerators, cleaning exhaust gases and much else besides.

Functional ceramics are ceramic materials which have special electrochemical, electrical or magnetic properties. Functional ceramic materials can be used for countless purposes.

At Risø, by far the biggest application area is the development of ceramic SOFC fuel cells and SOEC electrolysis cells. However, research is also being conducted into using functional ceramics for flue gas purification, magnetic refrigeration and oxygen membranes.

“You can imagine an oxygen membrane shaped like a pipe with atmospheric air on the outside and pure oxygen flowing through the hollow in the middle. This is the sort of component we want to be able to make in one go. However, it means that the properties of the ceramic materials must be changed through the component from the outside to the inside, so it is, as it were, built up of three layers, each with its own function,” says Nini Pryds from the Fuel Cells and Solid State Chemistry Division at Risø DTU, who is responsible for the project.

This is the basic idea of the research project. To find ways of varying the relevant properties (e.g. electrical, electromechanical or magnetic) in a controlled fashion along the length of the component. Such multi-material or graded functional components can be manufactured using familiar, simple methods known from the ceramics industry. Methods such as tape casting and extrusion.

“So far we know very little about the processes which determine the properties of the finished component. The aim of our project is therefore to generate the knowledge required to optimise the manufacture of graded ceramic components,“ says Nini Pryds.

The actual outcome of the project will be simple and inexpensive components for using in three promising energy technologies: magnetic refrigeration, oxygen membranes and electromechanical flue gas purification.

A Cambridge, Mass., company founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists and graduates wants to solve the water treatment problems of the ethanol industry. IntAct Labs LLC has been awarded a $46,770 U.S. EPA grant to further research ethanol stillage treatment using a microbial fuel cell process, according to Justin Buck, chief technology officer for the company.

The microbial fuel cells harness the power of microbes to take organic matter and waste and break it down into water and CO2. The main benefit of this, Buck said, was that the process generates clean water without leaving as much waste behind. Typical wastewater treatment at an ethanol plants results in 3 to 5 liters of waste solids for every liter of ethanol. (Or, roughly 3 to 5 gallons of waste for every gallon of ethanol.) The IntAct system, on the other hand, results in smaller amounts of solids to be collected and processed.

Secondly, instead of consuming electricity, this system produces it. It’s a small amount of electricity—not enough to sell to the grid or power the ethanol plant, Buck said. However, the goal is that the system will generate enough electricity to power the water treatment system, making it energy neutral instead of an energy drain.

Currently, IntAct is focusing its efforts on making the technology work for the biofuels sector. The company is actively searching for partners in that field for testing and pilot-scale research, Buck said. The technology is workable for traditional ethanol production as well as cellulosic ethanol plants.

The microbial fuel cell process could, however, be used in a variety of industries, from agricultural waste or industrial food production waste. The first application the company worked on for its microbial fuel cells received funding from the NASA Institute of Advanced Concepts. The long-term goal was to use it in space travel, to recycle wastes and cut the electricity consumption of the life support system, he said.

Immediately prior to joining Kleiner Perkins, van Dokkum assisted a number of the firm’s portfolio companies as an independent consultant.

During his seven-year tenure at UTC Power, a division of United Technologies, van Dokkum helped advance UTC Power’s on-site power generation offerings including renewable power solutions such as stationary fuel cells and combined heating and power applications. He also worked closely with automotive manufacturers globally seeking out other early uses for fuel cells, such as transit buses.

Before joining UTC Power, van Dokkum was with Siemens for 17 years where he served the last six years as president and CEO of Siemens Power Transmission & Distribution.

He is a member of the US Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee, and contributed to the Department of Energy’s Grid 2030 National Vision for Electricity’s Second 100 Years.

He also co-chaired the Energy Efficiency in Buildings project for the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, served on the board of directors of WestStart-CALSTART and was chairman of the California Fuel Cell Partnership for two years