Akiko Fujita:
Andi Marsh joining us today.
Andi it is great to have you back on the show. We are going to get to those numbers in the quater in just a bit, but let me just talk to you about how you are watching these energy moves that had been playing out as a result to the russian invasion of Ukraine.
There is a larger debate that this is elevated, which is to say, if you take russion oil and gas out of the midst, especially for european countries, does that, number 1: accelerate then the transmission to green energy or does that increase the reliance on other forms of fossil fuels?
What have you heard from some clients? Are you seeing a pickup in interest especially on „hydrogen fuel cell“ - technology over the last weeks?
Andy Marsh:
The answer to this question is, yes! But first I would like to say, like most people I am watching what is going on in Ukraine is horrible. But I think what it is highlighting is the need to move away from the russion gas stations.
And I think when people look at it, you see two items:
One is that we need to reduce our CO2 emissions and now renewable energy is an opportunity or is a national security issue also to produce it yourself.
I was talking this week with one of our leading […] providers in Europe. And we had a long discussion about how we can convert natural gas pipelines into hydrogen pipelines. Not in some distant future, but at today.
Akiko:
With that said, I am sure you were listening to our guest earlier Thomas Phillipson from the University of Chicago who you know brought up a point, that I think a lot of people have made, which is to say, that Green Energy is where things should go long-term, but it is just not at a cost level where countries can transition to.
So number 1: Do you agree, and number 2: How quickly would you be able to build up the infrastructure to be able to accelerate green energy , at least if we are talking specifically about blue hydrogen.
Marsh:
When I look at it, I think I have a lot of different perspectives than the economist, is that the price of fossil fuels of the society we are seeing today, which is not in the market price, cost of maintenance armies, the cost of what polution is doing to people, so I would tell you today, without subsidies it is cost effective, as it is not doing the long term damage to society.
That being said, […] pipelines today, especially in Europe are in position to be automatically changed over to hydrogen pipelines. You mentioned blue hydrogen. I think there is a place for blue hydrogen, ultimately I believe the answer is is green hydrogen, coupled with low cost renewable energy.
And I thing what is going on at the moment, is just going to accelerate that activity.
Brain:
Let us talk about your earnings what you reported earlier this week. It seems like this is going to be an important year for you in terms of growth.
I think 3 plants that you plan to build in 2022, tell us about what you expect to see later this year on terms of your companies or growth and perhaps the bottom line as well.
Marsh: […] to us is, Plug has a first mover advantage. We are the only company that can serve all your hydrogen fuel cell needs and provide a complete turn-key solution. We are going to almost double revenue this year, and we expect that the company […] profitability in 2023.
So it is clear to us, that scale matters. We see that with our own plants that we are building across the US and also in Europe, we will be able to make green hydrogen a profitable business for us, and you know we see there is market growth in elecrolyzers in onroad vehicles, so we are building facilities to support that growth by ourselves, but also in Australia with partners like Fortescue, one of the largest mining companies in/out Australia, as well as next week or the week after I will be in France for the grand opening of our facility with Renault for our JV Hyvia, to be building onroads Hydrogen Vehicles for commercial use.
Akiko:
You have had a production target of 500 to. by 2025 in place. Does that still hold, or do you think that that can be accelerated, especially with this renewed attention towards cleaner energy really to try infill the void of some of the energy that could come offline as a result to what is playing out over in Eastern Europe.
Marsh:
Akiko, we spend everyday looking at how we can accelerate our deployments in green hydrogen. And during our earnings call we have mentioned that we expect to have over 200 to. online by the end of 2023 and we are looking for ways to expand and grow those plans even more rapidly. So the actual question is: Our public commitment is 500 to. in the US by 2025 and 1000 to. by 2028. We actually are commited to finding ways to accelerate because we know the market wants Green Hydrogen.