Plug Power's new $125 million Vista Tech Campus factory is online, will hit full capacity by summer
Robin Cooper, Albany Business Review
January 12, 2023
Plug Power expects its new $125 million factory in the Vista Technology Campus will be operating at full capacity within the next six months amid surging demand from customers who use hydrogen fuel cells to power everything from forklifts to data centers and manufacturing plants.
Located 5 miles south of Interstate 90, Plug Power started churning out Progen fuel cell devices in November at its new 420,000-square-foot in the Vista park, which straddles portions of two communities — Bethlehem and Slingerlands.
BBL Construction Services of Albany began building the plant a little more than a year ago. Plug executives know it is a matter of time before they will need to expand.
"This really is the heart of the integration of all our products," chief executive Andy Marsh said Thursday. "You hear a lot of people talk about the significance of using fuel cells in forklift trucks. That is the product that helped us get to where we are, but the forklift truck business is a pretty small part of where we are headed."
Founded 25 years ago in Latham, Plug Power (Nasdaq: PLUG) has more than 60,000 fuel cells in operation around the world, the majority of which are used to power forklifts that Walmart, Amazon, Target and others use to move food, beverages and household goods throughout large distribution centers.
As Marsh and Plug diversify their business by producing their own hydrogen — using power from hydroelectric plants, solar and wind — the company also is using its fuel cell technology to build equipment that will power delivery trucks, large factories and data centers.
The company, which ended 2021 with $502 million in revenue (sales for 2022 have yet to be reported), started production last year at another $125 million factory in Rochester, where Plug makes electrolyzers that allow customers to use renewable energy to split water into oxygen and hydrogen.
Marsh expects Plug's electrolyzers will become the company's largest business by the end of 2023.
Within two years, Marsh anticipates stationary power — the use of fuel cells to provide power for factories and data centers — will become the company's second-largest business.
"I am amazed by the number of people in the United States and Europe who are looking to use hydrogen for off-grid applications," Marsh said.
In June, Plug and Microsoft tested a 3-megawatt fuel cell at Plug’s Latham factory that could allow Microsoft to replace diesel generators as the backup power source for 200-plus data centers across the United States.
Now, the company is working on a similar product that will be used to power factories and other applications that demand large amounts of power. Those fuel cell modules, as Marsh calls them, will be manufactured and assembled at the Vista Tech Campus. Plug expects to make enough units to produce about 30 megawatts of power this year.
"But that is really just the start," Marsh said.
The chief executive, who joined Plug 16 years ago, talked about the significance of the Vista plant Thursday during an event with U.S. Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Much of the company's focus around the Vista park project last year was to ensure the company was well positioned from a manufacturing standpoint point to ensure the company could keep up with demand.
This year, Plug will shift its attention to supply chain management and warehousing, said David Mindnich, executive vice president of global manufacturing.
The Vista plant has enough space to add another 800,000 square feet of production and office space adjacent to the current building.
"We are not going to invest in any expansion until we are fully utilizing the factory and fully utilizing the time within the factory," Mindnich said. "What I mean by that is, we would rather go to a 168-hours-a-week operation before we spend tens of millions of dollars expanding."
With the opening of the Vista site, Plug also sees an opportunity to reimagine its Latham factory. That site, located near Albany International Airport, will be converted into an innovation center for engineering, research and development.