Plug Power shares jumped nearly 5% in premarket trading

Plug Power shares jumped nearly 5% in premarket trading as wanted to break ground in Slingerlands by February.

Plug Power has a "really aggressive" construction timeline for its new fuel cell manufacturing complex planned for the Vista Technology Campus in Slingerlands that would employ nearly 700 people.

Representatives of Columbia Development, the Albany real estate development firm that created Vista and still owns 214 acres at the business park, told the Bethlehem Planning Board on Tuesday that the goal is to break ground on a 200,000-square-foot building that will house a fuel cell assembly plant by February.

Completion of the first building - Plug Power is planning to add another 100,000-square-foot testing facility and 50,000 square feet of office space for staff later - is expected by the end of July.

"It's even more exciting that such a clean technology firm that originated here in the Capital Region is going to be here at the Vista Tech Campus, which is exactly what was envisioned many, many years ago now back in 2007," Terresa Bakner, an attorney representing Columbia Development told the Planning Board Tuesday.

Columbia Development recently filed site plan documents with the town of Bethlehem for the project, which would be built behind a roundabout at the Vista tech park located behind the ShopRite supermarket. The building would be the first "technology" firm to locate at the park, which opened more than a decade ago with plans to attract technology manufacturing. Currently there are only retail businesses and doctors offices at the park.

Plug Power makes fuel cells branded under the GenDrive name that run on hydrogen and are currently used by companies like Walmart and Amazon for forklift trucks used in their warehouses.

However, the company has set its sights on expanding into other markets for road vehicles like delivery trucks and even airplanes and has been building its own hydrogen production plants that make so-called green hydrogen made from water using renewable energy sources.

The Slingerlands complex, which would make GenDrive fuel cells, would employ 670 people, about 360 of whom would relocate from the company's current headquarters and GenDrive assembly plant on Albany Shaker Road in Latham.

While Plug's headquarters would not move from Latham, moving its GenDrive manufacturing to Slingerlands would allow Plug Power to expand its GenDrive manufacturing capacity, which is constrained by the current Latham location. The move would also allow Plug Power to use the freed-up space in Latham for another one of its business units.

"They're operating at 100 percent of their (manufacturing) capacity in Latham," Brandon Stabler, a Columbia Development executive who spoke at the virtual meeting said of Plug Power. "Our hope is that we can break ground in the middle of February of 2022."

Columbia Development wants to complete the first building by the end of July and finish the two other buildings, all of which will be connected, by the end of 2022.

A Bethlehem Planning Board member called the project timeline "really aggressive."

In addition to making fuel cells, Plug Power is building new facilities across the country and abroad to make green hydrogen.

The Slingerlands complex will have 600 parking spaces for employees who will work in shifts and 26 loading docks for delivery trucks.

Plug Power is one of the leading fuel cell companies in the U.S. and is the biggest consumer of hydrogen in North America. Although the company has yet to turn a profit as its spends money on its expansion, it has $3 billion in cash to spend and is projecting nearly $1 billion in revenue by next year.

Hydrogen-powered fuel cells are an extremely popular type of power source for vehicles as the world seeks to reduce the use of fossil fuels in vehicles, which release greenhouse gases known to cause climate change.

Plug Power shipped 4,559 GenDrive fuel cells to customers during the third quarter of 2021.

Hydrogen fuel cells only emit water vapor and hot air, making them an ideal replacement for engines that run on oil or gas. The biggest hurdle is the lack hydrogen infrastructure, which is why Plug Power has also focused on building green hydrogen plants that make hydrogen from water.

Today, most hydrogen is made from methane, a fossil fuel. Plug Power's hydrogen plants will also use renewable energy, ensuring that its hydrogen fuel is 100 percent renewable.