Plug Power reports strong bookings in 2020, ups guidance for 2021

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Plug Power Inc., the Albany-based provider of hydrogen engines and fueling solutions, last week said it had exceeded its 2020 sales expectations and has upped its guidance for 2021 and 2024.

Gross billings were more than $330 million for the year, said Plug Power President and CEO Andy Marsh in an earnings call. With its strong bookings, the company has set its 2021 sales guidance at $475 million.

“We are also announcing today a fourth pedestal customer,” Marsh said in the call. “This customer is an automotive manufacturer with over 50 plants worldwide. We will be doing four sites at the beginning of this year in 2021 to start. Part of our long term plan includes Plug Power penetrating the on-road vehicle market and large scale stationary market.”

Marsh hinted that Spring Hill, Tenn., could have something to do with the fourth pedestal customer; General Motors Corp. employs some 3,700 people at a manufacturing facility there.

Marsh noted that the company had set four major goals for 2021: to accelerate its push into green hydrogen; to complete the formation of joint ventures with its two new partners, Renault and SK Group; to build out the first nationwide green hydrogen network; and to achieve a 40 percent sales growth.

Marsh said he expects to have some hydrogen-powered vehicles, as part of the joint venture with Renault, on the road this year, and that by 2025 Renault feels that the two companies could have 20,000 vehicles on the road; by 2030, it is targeting 30 percent of the 500,000 vehicle markets for light commercial vehicles in Europe.

“By 2025, we will have 500 tons of capacity and 1000 tons of green hydrogen by 2028 around the world. Our relationship with Renault and SK will help ignite our on-road and stationery business. We will have a global cell and manufacturing footprint. We will partner with others to achieve these goals,” Marsh said. “We also have the financial wherewithal to achieve these goals. And have necessary foundations to be an industrial leader in the future $10 trillion hydrogen economy. And that is where Plug Power is today.”

Plug Power has a significant presence in Rochester and is expected to add more than 375 jobs when its $125 million Innovation Center on John Street in Henrietta is complete. In 2019, the clean energy company completed its nearly $4 million expansion in Rochester. The move came less than a year after the opening of its Eastman Business Park facility.

Since the beginning of 2021, Plug Power shares (NasdaqCM: PLUG) have more than doubled to an opening price of $65.91 on Wednesday.

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