Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG) Wants to Win By Manufacturing in the United States

July 10, 2020

Andy Marsh is President and Chief Executive Officer of Plug Power Inc. Mr. Marsh joined Plug Power as President and CEO in April 2008. Under his leadership, Plug Power has led innovation, bringing the hydrogen fuel cell market from concept to commercialization.

Early on, Marsh identified material handling as the first commercially viable market targeted by Plug Power.  Today, the firm’s fuel cell solutions are leveraged by world leaders such as Amazon, Walmart and Carrefour to power industrial electric vehicles.

In this 2,774 word interview, Mr. Marsh outlines the near term tactics and the long term strategy for his successful alternative energy vehicle company.

“…One of the company’s core strengths is that we are the largest user of hydrogen as a fuel in the world, and that is because we have shipped out over 32,000 units and built more hydrogen stations than anyone else. It is a really unique business…”

The future is bright for Plug Power:

“Plug Power is a member of a global group called the Hydrogen Council, which includes 80 companies looking to develop this market. We hired McKinsey to put together a study to tell us where it thinks the market is today as well as the applications that will make fuel cells more attractive than alternatives by 2030.

The long-term view of hydrogen is that it is a $2.5 trillion market, and that view includes storage of hydrogen for power processing and industrial heating where hydrogen is much more effective.

For example, if you are going to use electricity for steel or cement manufacturing, a need is there. We talked about on-road vehicles here, but we also are interesting to a company like National Grid that is looking to convert a natural gas base into a hydrogen one to heat buildings in the U.K. by 2040. Overall, it is a huge pie.

What is going to come first? As the cost of hydrogen continues to go down, it opens opportunities for fuel cells. The lower cost of hydrogen is really closely tied to green hydrogen and a continual reduction in price of renewable energy. But over the next five years, we will see the cost of renewable hydrogen, green hydrogen, on par with hydrogen produced by natural gas.

That opens up huge markets because hydrogen itself today in the fertilizer and other industries is already a $30 billion to $50 billion market opportunity. ”

Get the full picture by reading the entire 2,774 word interview, only in the Wall Street Transcript.