SwingTrade Member Forum

[umiak]

PLUG- Tax credits reinstated:

The disappearance of the credit threatened the domestic expansion of Plug Power, a company founded in the late 1990s in the midst of the tech boom, whose stock briefly topped $1,000 a share. The bubble popped, the firm’s shares sunk to single digits and the company burned through money, seeking a marketable use for its fuel cells, which cost more than conventional competitors but emit nothing but water as a byproduct. Mr. Marsh took over in 2008 and finally steered the firm into what has become a profitable niche: replacing the large batteries that power forklifts in warehouses.

Forklifts that run on fuel cells do not need to swap out batteries every shift, like those that run on lead-acid batteries. They plug into a fuel station that looks like a gasoline pump, connect a few hoses and quickly fill up with hydrogen. Plug Power has found a growing market in selling or leasing those fuel cells to Amazon, Walmart, Kroger and B.M.W., among others, and it has begun piloting fuel-cell powered delivery trucks in China and around Albany.

When the credit expired, Mr. Marsh said, the price of buying one of the company’s fuel cells immediately jumped 30 percent for customers. Some of those customers, he added, have budgets set aside for alternative energy spending — and in those cases, solar and wind projects, which still were backed by credits, were suddenly more attractive.

The recent tax law compounded the problem, because it made it more expensive for Plug Power to get financing. When the law was signed in December, Mr. Marsh said one of his lenders called and told him his borrowing costs were going up.The credit was in the budget deal, retroactive to 2017 and phased down through 2022. The industry had gotten exactly what it wanted — at least for now.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/us/politics/tax-credit-extension.html