Hoku Scientific, originally a fuel cell membrane developer, is now pushing ahead with its solar expansion.

This is a 2 step expansion plan which paves the way for some vertical integration;

Step 1: build a polysilicon production plant in Hawaii (where the company is located) to provide their own internal supply of the material for photovoltaic cell production as well as to supply the market in general.

Actually I think this is quite shrewd, although highly capital intensive- too many solar pv manufacturers have been held hostage by the supply shortage of silicon

Step 2: "Hoku Solar" - the solar division - then enters the photovoltaic market through the manufacture of PV modules derived from the polysilicon factory with an initial capacity of 30 megawatts per year beginning in the second half of 2008

Nevertheless, silicon wafer production is starting to pick up - it takes about 2 years to get a Fab up and running and quite a lot Fabs will be coming online in the next few years. Are we looking at a silicon glut in 2010?

Fuel Cell Energy has just landed an additional $2.5m to to complete a land-based demonstration of its ship service fuel cell (SSFC) power plant and begin design work on a next generation ship-based prototype.

What singles out FCE from many other fuel cell companies is that they view the Hydrogen Economy and its associated infrastructure as decades off. So they are concentrating on an interim solution - direct fuel cells DFCs. These fuel cells are typically stationary power stations that can do the reforming (extracting the hydrogen) themselves, using a mixture of off the shelf fossil fuels.

In the case of the US Navy, FCE has adapted its DFC technology to run on naval liquid fuels - diesel and jet fuel.

Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide - also known as just Quantum Technologies - has just announced that it has supplied an as-yet-unnamed fuel cell bus manufacturer with its next generation hydrogen storage technology.

I'm guessing that might well be Mercedes or GM?

GM owns a 19.9% stake in Quantum and so this company is really a bet on near-future hydrogen transport. Quantum is a very scientific company that sees itself as a core component supplier in the hydrogen transport arena, specialising in the design and manufacture of the accompanying systems that run in tandem with a fuel cell vehicle to Original End Manufacturers.

I've travelled quite a few times on a Fuel Cell Bus in London - they are smaller, much quieter and the bus drivers love them. Mechanically, they are more reliable using fewer moving parts. The tough question though is one of cost £900,000 a pop, compared to £200,000 for a bendy bus which carries twice as many people - and range - a mere 100 miles.

Hydrogenics has just closed a deal with American Power Conversion for a sale of up to 500 fuel cell modules for integration into APC's InfraStruXure architecture, which is used as a backup power generator.

Hydrogenics had developed a niche, some would say a monopoly, in testing, control and diagnostic equipment to the world's fuel cell industry. This has no doubt given them enormous insight into what works and what doesn't. And perhaps this is now starting to translate into their own fuel cell production business . . . no question, they are pleased about the order. Here's a quote from the CEO, taken from the full press release on their website below.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for Hydrogenics to continue our development of a commercial fuel cell product for an identified high potential market that can start reaping cost-effective benefits today," said Pierre Rivard, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hydrogenics. "Securing this largest single order to date for fuel cell units is a great show of confidence from a world leading NCPI systems provider- not only in Hydrogenics' products and expertise, but in the first-mover opportunity that fuel cell technology provides. The order was achieved in part by setting a new industry benchmark for volume production, enabling significant cost reductions that can be passed to the customer. Here is proof that the fuel cell industry has made real progress in getting to a pricing structure that offers commercial potential for substantial and growing markets."

Buoyed by the news, Hydrogenics closed up over 4% today at 1.71.