General Electric (GE) announced Thursday it has entered into ajoint venture with Plug Power, a Latham NY-based company dedicatedto the development and manufacturing of fuel cells, to market fuelcells worldwide. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Thetwo companies will combine efforts to form a new company called GEFuel Cell Systems. GE will own 75% of the new company, with PlugPower owning the rest. GE also acquired 10% of Plug Power ownershipin the deal.

GE Fuel Cell Systems will manufacture, market, and install fuelcells designed for small commercial and residential customers. APlug Power-made fuel cell produces up to 35 kW, an official said.The initial asking price for cells will be between $7,500 and$10,000, but with increased production, the company expects theprice to drop to $3,500. At this price, a fuel cell can generateelectricity at $0.07-$0.10/kWh.

For a normal home, Plug Power spokesman John Mousaw said thecompany will offer a seven kW fuel cell. “A normal home requiresfour kW to run without a problem. The additional three kWs willcover any surges in power that might occur.” The cells are plannedto go on sale Jan. 2001.

Mousaw said the top option to power these cells is natural gas.”Clearly the infrastructure already exists, and natural gas is avery economical fuel.” He declined, however, to say how much gas anormal fuel cell uses.

GE said it would like to work with carefully selected partnerswho would buy the fuel cells from the new company, then sell themto end-users. It mentioned natural gas and propane distributioncompanies, electric utilities, electric service companies, andelectric and gas marketers as some avenues which it will explorepartnership options through.

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