Tag - Hydrogen

Hydrogenics Corp. (Nasdaq: HYGS) said this morning that it will cut 50 positions and take a charge of $3 million as a result in the fourth quarter.

The Canadian developer and provider of hydrogen and fuel cell products and services said the 50 positions will be concentrated in the administrative and operational areas to streamline operations and reduce costs.

The company said as a result of its streamlining initiatives it anticipates incurring a charge in the fourth quarter of approximately $3 million, or $0.03 per share, but noted that the cost cutting should result in $5.2 million of annualized cash savings by the third quarter of 2008.

Shares of Hydrogenics (HYGS) were halted in pre-market trading.

Manufacturer of high temperature hydrogen fuel cells FuelCell Energy Inc., (Nasdaq: FCEL) reported before the opening bell Wednesday that received approval to scale up a product that separates hydrogen from a gas mixture while generating electricity.

The Danbury, C.T.-based company said it developed a electrochemical hydrogen separation system for the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center's Construction Engineering Research Laboratory. FuelCell says its system enables the pure, extracted gas to be sold as fuel for hydrogen vehicles or for industrial uses.

The $1.225 million Phase II contract, supported in part by the U.S. Department of Defense, is expected to be complete by mid-2008.

Shares of Fuelcell climbed 3.43%, or $0.28, to $8.45 in pre-market trading Wednesday.

Even with fears of global warming and a worst-case-scenario of a shutdown of oil from the Middle East, it’s not easy being a green company.

The concept of non-polluting fuel cells powering our cars and trucks seemed too good to be true when it first exploded on the scene nearly two decades ago. Investors in one of the leading hydrogen-cell developers, Ballard Power Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BLDP, TSX: BLD) might be left wondering if commercializing the technology is just a lot of hot air.