LATHAM, N.Y., July 13, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Plug Power Inc. (Nasdaq:PLUG), a leader in providing clean, reliable energy solutions, today announces that its GenDrive™ fuel cell units are currently powering a fleet of The Raymond Corporation's electric lift trucks at United Natural Foods, Inc.'s (Nasdaq:UNFI) Sarasota, Florida distribution center.
UNFI purchased 65 GenDrive fuel cell units on December 24, 2009. UNFI added 29 new Raymond lift trucks to its fleet, and will retrofit 36 existing Raymond lift trucks to run off the GenDrive fuel cells. The Raymond Corporation, and Authorized Raymond Sales and Service Center Abel Womack, provided fuel cell compatible Raymond Reach-Fork® trucks, pallet trucks, orderpickers and counterbalanced lift trucks to UNFI. The GenDrive units, manufactured at Plug Power's Latham, NY, facility shipped in early June.
By powering the lift truck fleet at its 352,000 square-foot distribution center with Plug Power's GenDrive fuel cell units, UNFI made a commitment to adopt a hydrogen economy at its facility. Productivity gains are expected at its Sarasota operation as lift trucks will be able to move product at a faster pace. By using GenDrive, battery droop is also eliminated. Material handling equipment operates at full performance as GenDrive continuously performs like a fully charged battery.
Operational costs at the facility are expected to be reduced from the replacement of UNFI's large battery infrastructure with two compact hydrogen dispensers placed in strategic locations throughout the facility. Operator and truck downtime are also anticipated to decrease as a result of GenDrive units being refueled with hydrogen in less than three minutes.
"Plug Power's GenDrive units deliver a value proposition to customers that will allow them to be more successful then their competitors," said Andy Marsh, CEO at Plug Power. "UNFI, specifically, can leverage the significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to aid in its culture of social responsibility. The only by-products generated by the hydrogen-powered GenDrive unit are heat and water. For UNFI's Sarasota facility, this is a carbon emission reduction of 132 metric tons annually, an amount equivalent to the annual emissions of 35 automobiles."
Tom Dziki, Senior Vice President of Sustainable Development for UNFI, commented, "This project is a natural extension of our strategy to create a socially responsible environment in all the communities we serve. Hydrogen fuel cells not only provide greater productivity and lower operating costs but will be an important component of a clean energy future and we are happy to be pioneering the use of this technology in Florida. Once implemented, this fuel cell project is expected to create annual energy savings of approximately 640,000 kilowatt hours." The Sarasota facility, which employs approximately 160 associates, serves as a regional distribution hub for customers in the Southeastern United States.
"The close cooperation of The Raymond Corporation and Plug Power, along with Raymond Sales and Service Centers Abel Womack and Raymond Handling Consultants, helped ensure UNFI's lift truck fleet was converted to hydrogen fuel cell-power and ready for operation when it needed it to be," says Frank Devlin, segment manager for fuel cells at The Raymond Corporation.
About Plug Power Inc.
The architects of modern fuel cell technology, Plug Power revolutionized the industry with cost-effective power solutions that increase productivity, lower operating costs and reduce carbon footprints. Long-standing relationships with industry leaders forged the path for our key accounts, including Wegmans, Whole Foods, and FedEx Freight. With more than 1,000 units in the field and over 1.5 million hours of runtime, Plug Power manufactures tomorrow's incumbent power solutions today. Visit us at http://www.plugpower.com/">www.plugpower.com.
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About United Natural Foods
United Natural Foods, Inc. (http://www.unfi.com/) carries and distributes more than 60,000 products to more than 17,000 customer locations nationwide. The Company serves a wide variety of retail formats including conventional supermarket chains, natural product superstores, independent retail operators and the food service channel. United Natural Foods, Inc. was ranked by Forbes in 2005 as one of the "Best Managed Companies in America," ranked by Fortune in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010 as one of its "Most Admired Companies," winner of the Supermarket News 2008 Sustainability Excellence Award, and recognized by the Nutrition Business Journal for its 2009 Environment and Sustainability Award.
Raymond and Reach-Fork® are a registered trademark of The Raymond Corporation.
Plug Power Inc. Safe Harbor Statement
This communication contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We believe that it is important to communicate our future expectations to our investors. However, there may be events in the future that we are not able to accurately predict or control and that may cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations we describe in our forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the risk that unit orders will not ship, be installed and/or convert to revenue, in whole or in part; the cost and timing of developing our products and our ability to raise the necessary capital to fund such development costs; we may be unable to achieve the forecasted gross margin on the sale of our products; our actual net cash used for operating expenses may exceed the projected net cash for operating expenses; the cost and availability of fuel and fueling infrastructures for our products; market acceptance of our GenDrive and GenSys systems; our ability to establish and maintain relationships with third parties with respect to product development, manufacturing, distribution and servicing and the supply of key product components; the cost and availability of components and parts for our products; our ability to develop commercially viable products; our ability to reduce product and manufacturing costs; our ability to successfully expand our product lines; our ability to improve system reliability for both GenDrive and GenSys; competitive factors, such as price competition and competition from other traditional and alternative energy companies; our ability to manufacture products on a large-scale commercial basis; our ability to protect our intellectual property; the cost of complying with current and future governmental regulations; the impact of deregulation and restructuring of the electric utility industry on demand for Plug Power's energy products; and other risks and uncertainties discussed under "Item IA-Risk Factors" in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2009, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on March 16, 2010, and the reports we file from time to time with the SEC. We do not intend to and undertake no duty to update the information contained in this communication.