Alternative Energy Stocks

The automotive fuel cell industry now stands out as a glimmering beacon in the supply chain's vertical landscape. Driven by factors ranging from homeland security to diminishing natural resources, the fuel cell supply chain market will explode to somewhere between $1 billion and $2 billion by 2012, according to analysts at ABI Research.

Pacific Fuel Cell Corp (PFCE) announce that it has acquired rights to a new Methanol Resistant Cathodic Catalyst for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells and has filed a provisional patent in the name of the co-inventors, Professor Yushan Yan and Dr. Xin Wang. This new catalyst should eliminate the mixed potential problem at the cathode, and thus significantly increase the fuel cell efficiency.

Mechanical Technology Inc (MKTY) announced today that it has received required safety certifications from Underwriter's Laboratories Inc. (UL) and CSA International (CSA) for its micro fuel cell MTI Micro's Mobion(TM) power packs for military and industrial markets. It is targeted for shipment by the end of 2004 for use in logistics and warehousing applications (such as RFID tag readers) where shorter run-time and re-charge maintenance of traditional batteries can reduce worker productivity.

BOC Group PLC (BOX) has been awarded a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant for a 3-year, $3.8 million project to develop an advanced hydrogen generation and delivery system. BOC, as the project leader, is partnering with Canada-based Membrane Reactor Technologies (MRT) and HERA Hydrogen Storage Systems Inc. (HERA) to develop and demonstrate advanced hydrogen generation and delivery systems that integrate MRT's membrane reactor and HERA's thermal hydride compression into a single package. The companies are working to develop a solution for the economic and technical challenge of delivering low-cost, high-purity hydrogen to industrial users, vehicles and stationary/mobile...

Scientists from Toin University of Yokohama in Japan have designed a single, compact device that can both convert solar energy to electricity and store the electricity. "We succeeded in incorporating both photovoltaic and storage functions in a single cell with a thin, sandwich-type structure," said Tsutomu Miyasaka, a researcher at the University. The researchers' photocapacitor is also efficient at capturing energy from weak light sources like sunlight on cloudy or rainy days and indoor lighting.

Fuelcell Energy Inc (FCEL) announced today that Chevron Energy Solutions, a ChevronTexaco (NYSE: CVX - News) subsidiary and FuelCell Energy distribution partner, has sold a 250-kilowatt Direct FuelCell® (DFC®) power plant to the U.S. Postal Service's (USPS's) San Francisco Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC). Chevron Energy Solutions will develop, engineer and construct the project over the next year and provide a turn-key on-site generation solution to the facility. FuelCell Energy will provide the DFC300A power plant, technical support and system commissioning services.

Shell Solar Industries announced that they have been awarded a contract by Semitropic Water Storage District of Wasco, California, to design and install a unique array of solar photovoltaics (PV). Shell Solar engineers have designed an innovative, patent-pending "Single Axis Tracking System" for nearly one megawatt of solar panels. This system will generate more power, as the tracker "follows the sun", rather than being installed at a fixed angle. Shell Solar is part of Shell Renewables, which is a very small part of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies (RD).

FPL Group Inc (FPL) plans to build a small solar energy facility in South Florida next year as part of a program that encourages electricity customers to pay an extra fee to support clean power. About 9,000 customers have agreed to pay an additional $9.75 on their monthly electricity bills to support renewable energy through the company's Sunshine Energy program. The company has agreed to build 150 kilowatts of solar power capacity in Florida for every 10,000 customers who sign up, and it expects to pass that mark within a month or so.

The Dow Chemical Company (DOW) and General Motors Corp. (GM), launched the second phase of their joint project to prove the viability of hydrogen fuel cells for motor vehicles and possibly for distributed power generation. The project has now expanded from a single GM test cell, installed in February 2004, to a multi-cell pilot plant at Dow's Texas Operations in Freeport, TX. "In the first phase of this project, we collectively learned a lot about generating power from byproduct hydrogen via fuel cell technology, and now we're ready to build on what we've learned," said Gordon Slack, Dow's...

ZAP (ZAPZ) announced today that, based on interest generated at the San Francisco International Auto Show last week, it has received a 100-unit block purchase order from a U.S. automotive dealer. ZAP will not announce the name of the dealer until the cars are ready to be sold to the general public, but is in discussion with a number of government and corporate fleets as well as automotive wholesale dealers for purchase orders of 100 or more cars, up to 15,000, by December 31, 2004 due to U.S. small manufacturers limitations.

Plug Power Inc (PLUG) introduced three new product configurations designed specifically for the electric utility substation backup market. The hydrogen-fueled GenCore® 5-kilowatt fuel cell system, designed to provide extended run backup power, is now available with floating ground in 48Vdc, 108Vdc and 120Vdc outputs to meet the unique requirements of electric utility distribution and transmission substations. The Company is accepting orders for the floating ground systems and expects to begin shipments next month. These new configurations complement the 24Vdc positive ground and 48Vdc positive and negative ground GenCore® systems currently available.

Capstone Turbine Corp (CPST) has been selected to provide a biogas-to-energy demonstration project in West Bengal, India. The project is expected to be online mid-2005. It will be the first installation of Capstone MicroTurbine(TM) energy systems in India. The project will encompass two new anaerobic digesters (which create biogas from manure), gas pre-treatment equipment, two Capstone C30 systems and a microgrid to export power.

Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc (QTWW) announced that it has entered into an agreement whereby Quantum will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Starcraft Corporation (STCR) in a stock-for-stock exchange valued at approximately $185 million The combined company will have an extensive range of operational expertise in areas such as vehicle systems design, powertrain engineering, systems integration, validation, assembly and service readiness for traditional vehicles, alternative fuel platforms, and hydrogen-based fuel cell vehicles. QTWW is trading down in the pre-market and STCR is trading up, which is typical when these types of events occur....

Intrepid Technology and Resources, Inc. (IESV) has completed all required testing on their bioreactor located at the Whitesides dairy near Rupert, Idaho and have began the process of loading animal waste from the dairy into the twin 35,000 gallon tanks. This is a significant development for this company. The stock is trading up over 10% today on this news. The next milestone is a confirmation of the methane gas output for this plant and if it will meet or exceed projections.

ENDESA (ELE) has started up the Estoncala, Jupiter and Saturno wind farms, located in the north of the province of Soria, in the Sierras of Alba and Montes Claros, near the villages of Santa Cruz de Yanguas, Villar del Rio, Vizmanos, Las Aldehuelas and Arevalo de la Sierra. The three wind farms have a combined installed capacity of 47.2 MW and are equipped with 59 GAMESA AE-56 wind turbines, made in Spain and with a unit capacity of 800 kW each.

As mentioned in a previous entry, the Pennsylvania legislature passed SB1030, the Alternative Energy Bill, on November 20, 2004 which will require a total of 18% of Pennsylvania's electricity to be generated by alternative energy sources by 2020. The standard requires 8% of Pennsylvania's electricity to be generated by so-called "Tier I" renewable sources of energy by 2020. Tier I resources include solar, wind, geothermal and biomass. The standard also requires 10% of the state's electricity to come from a second category of resources that include waste coal, integrated combined coal gasification technology, municipal solid waste, large-scale hydro,...