Recent developments at Vancouver-based Ballard Power Systems (T.BLD) have created a fair amount of excitement in the investment world, particularly as petroleum prices have waxed and waned like the surface of the Moon.
The latest announcement came early this week, shortly after Easter, with word that the company’s facility in Tijuana produced more than 200 ElectraGenTM-ME systems in the first quarter of this calendar year, establishing a new record high production level at the plant.
The Tijuana plant, employing 65 Mexican workers, opened in 2007, but has been under Ballard’s management only since last January, following a deal last summer with IdaTech LLC under which BLP acquired several of the latter company’s key assets.
ElectraGen-ME systems incorporate a fuel reformer to extract hydrogen from HydroPlusTM, a mixture of methanol and water available from accredited suppliers around the world. The hydrogen is then used as feedstock for the fuel cells. Methanol is a readily available fuel around the globe, making ElectraGenTM-ME a practical solution for telecom backup power needs, even in remote locations.
Late in March, Ballard was making more noise internationally, bringing home word that its Chinese partner, Azure Hydrogen Energy Science and Technology Corporation, spent $2 million to pick up a 10% stake in Dantherm Power, Ballard’s telecom backup power subsidiary.
The transaction bumps Ballard’s ownership in Danish-based Dantherm to 52%, with the latter holding 38%. Dantherm acts as a development center for Ballard ElectraGenTM direct hydrogen systems used for backup power in the telecommunications sector.
Early in March, Ballard announced a deal between Van Hool NV, Europe’s fourth largest bus manufacturer, and the Aberdeen Transit Authority in Scotland to ship 10 buses that will be powered by Ballard’s 150 kilowatt FCvelocityTM-HD6 fuel cell module.
In February, Ballard reported lower 2012 revenue by $16.8 million, or 22%, at $59.2 million U.S. year-on-year, consistent with the Company’s revised guidance for revenue of approximately $60 million. The company reported a loss in 2012, though, of $18.5 million U.S., or a 17% lower loss than the $22.3-million U.S. for 2011.
Ballard Power Systems, to quote its Internet site, prides itself on providing clean energy fuel cell products “enabling optimized power systems for a range of applications… delivering incomparable performance, durability and versatility.”
On Friday, April 5, BLD closed in Toronto at 95 cents Canadian per share, unchanged from the day before, amid the fallout from gloomy employment figures for March. It’s a far cry from the $1.58 figure to which the stock climbed on March 6, peaking for the last 52 weeks, but much higher than the gulch of 58 cents plumbed on Christmas Eve.
