H Power Corp. To Supply Ball Aerospace With Fuel Cell Stacks For Use In Advanced Military Field Equipment
New Fuel Cell Based Portable Power Systems Will Permit Military to Operate Sensitive Electronic Devices in Remote Locations Without Batteries
CLIFTON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 20, 2000-- H Power Corp. (NASDAQ:HPOW - news), a leading fuel cell development company, today announced that it has signed a ``Memorandum of Understanding'' with Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., a subsidiary of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL - news).
Under the terms of the Memorandum, H Power Corp. will supply Ball Aerospace with proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell stacks for use in Ball Aerospace's portable hydrogen fuel cell power systems that are sold to the U.S. military and other users requiring similar highly sophisticated power sources.
H Power will provide fuel cell stacks capable of supplying between 10 and 500 watts of electricity for Ball's PPS-15, PPS-50 and PPS-100 portable power systems. The memorandum is subject to completion of definitive documentation.
H. Frank Gibbard, chief executive officer of H Power Corp., commented, ``Our alliance with Ball Aerospace represents a significant milestone for the company and an advance for our armed forces. H Power gets an additional high-volume customer with international recognition, and Ball Aerospace gets a source of custom, sophisticated fuel cell stacks for their Portable Power Systems.
Rich Reinker, Ball manager of Fuel Cell Programs, said, ``Portable Power Systems based on sophisticated fuel cells are well suited for use as a primary energy source in the military of the future.''
Gibbard continued, ``We see Ball Aerospace's military application as among the first of many that will use these versatile fuel cells to improve the way we live, work and play. Fuel cells are safe, do not pollute, have low operating costs, low noise levels, high reliability and low maintenance. In addition to a wide range of portable mobile products, H Power is also developing stationary cogeneration products for the remote and rural homeowner markets. Today's announcement is another step toward our goal of powering the world cleanly with fuel cells'.''
H Power has sold fuel cell systems for stationary and portable applications to the U.S. Government, state agencies and numerous domestic and multinational corporations.
About Ball Aerospace
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. provides imaging and communications products for commercial and government customers worldwide and is a subsidiary of Ball Corporation, a Fortune 500 company with sales of $3.6 billion in 1999.
About H Power Corp.
H Power Corp. is a leading fuel cell development company and one of the first providers to complete a commercial sale of a proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system. PEM fuel cells generate electricity efficiently and cleanly from the electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is typically derived from conventional fuels such as natural gas or propane, and oxygen is drawn from the air.
H Power's fuel cells are designed to provide electricity for a wide range of stationary, portable and mobile applications including residential cogeneration products for rural, remote homes, and backup power units for mobile applications.
For additional information, please visit our website at www.hpower.com or www.ballaerospace.com.
Certain expectations and projections regarding the future performance of H Power discussed in this news release are forward-looking and are made under the ``safe harbor'' provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These expectations are based on currently available competitive, financial and economic data along with the Company's operating plans and are subject to future events and uncertainties. Management cautions the reader that the following factors, amongst others, may cause H Power's plans to differ or results to vary from those expected, including the impact of competition, pricing, market demand and marketplace acceptance, and other risks set forth from time to time in H Power's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to the risks set forth in H Power's Registration Statement on Form S-1. H Power undertakes no obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to forward-looking statements, which may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. The events highlighted herein should not be assumed to be items that could affect the future performance of the Company. |