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Plug Power Plans Hydrogen Offering in Power Grid Auction
Administration Is Urging PJM to Hold Emergency Auction to Boost Electricity Supplies
Plug Power Inc. is planning to offer hydrogen electricity in a potential special auction by the biggest U.S. power grid in the scramble to feed the artificial intelligence boom.听
The supplier of hydrogen energy systems is considering providing as much as 250 megawatts in an auction that President Donald Trump is keen to happen later this year, according to Andy Marsh, the company鈥檚 chairman. Plug would need contracts lasting at least seven years, and is already talking to hyperscalers, data center companies and utilities.听
PJM Interconnection, which operates a 13-state grid serving the eastern and Midwestern U.S., is facing looming听power shortages, in large part because of surging consumption by data centers to power AI. The Trump administration in January urged it to hold an emergency auction to bolster electricity supplies.
鈥淲e鈥檙e courting data center operators and utilities that really come up with the right mix,鈥 Marsh said in an interview at Bloomberg News headquarters in New York. 鈥淭hese are long, long-term assets. So the longer the better.鈥
Marsh detailed the effort the same week he handed off the Latham, N.Y.-based company to newly installed CEO Jose Luis Crespo, part of a succession plan that was announced in October.听
Plug鈥檚 main business is hydrogen power forklifts, but Marsh and Crespo have spent years shifting the focus to also supply both the gas and the systems that are used to produce it.听
Jose Luis Crespo played a central role in scaling Plug鈥檚 commercial operations. His leadership reflects our continued focus on delivering reliable, end to end hydrogen solutions that strengthen energy independence and support customers around the world. 鈥 Plug Power Inc. (@PlugPowerInc)
That strategic shift is helping bolster the company鈥檚 balance sheet. Plug鈥檚 results were gross-margin positive in the fourth quarter, and the company expects to report positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization this year. By 2028, it should be profitable, Crespo said.听
鈥淲e are going to get the hydrogen business to be profitable,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hat is my mandate.鈥澨
