FuelCell Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq: FCEL) – a global leader in
delivering localized, always-on, and sustainable clean energy
solutions – today announced the details of its new “Powerhouse”
business strategy, which is focused on the fundamental pillars of
Transform, Strengthen, and Grow.
“Building on our 50-year history of innovation
and our leadership in the advancement of fuel cell technology, we
are embarking on a new “Powerhouse” business strategy focused on
strengthening our operations and industry positioning to enable the
delivery of sustained profitable growth to benefit all of our
stakeholders,” said Jason Few, President and Chief Executive
Officer. “In 2019, we largely completed the restructuring necessary
to support our new business strategy, including accomplishing
several foundational milestones toward achieving profitable growth
and reestablishing our position of industry leadership. We are now
able to focus fully on execution of our strategy and both growing
our existing business and expanding into new products, markets and
geographies.”
2019 Key Accomplishments and Recent
Developments
- Ended our engagement with Huron
Consulting Services LLC (“Huron Consulting”) after successfully
restructuring our business and operations and paying off our senior
secured credit facility.
- Closed on a new $200 million senior
secured credit facility with Orion Energy Partners to fund
construction costs, inventory and other capital expenditures
associated with current and future fuel cell projects.
- Improved our capital structure by
retiring our Series C and Series D preferred stock
obligations.
- Entered into a new two-year joint
development agreement with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering
Company, with anticipated revenues of up to $60 million, to further
the development of our carbon capture technology, and entered into
a related $10 million technology license agreement.
- Announced a strategic relationship
with E.ON Business Solutions to market and distribute our products,
adding to the two operating plants already owned by E.ON.
- Relaunched our sub-megawatt
products in Europe commercially, including our 250kW and 400kW
SureSource™ solutions, in addition to offering our
SureSource™ 1500, 3000 and 4000 platforms.
- Reached more than 9 million MW
hours of clean electricity produced by our SureSource™ fuel cell
power plants globally since the first commercial installation in
2003.
- Announced a carbon capture project
with Drax Power Station, the largest single-site renewable power
generator in the United Kingdom.
- Advanced our solid oxide power
generation, electrolysis, and energy storage applications by
executing on our existing Department of Energy contracts and
earning new DOE project awards.
Continued Execution on Customer Projects
Even while restructuring our business and
operations in fiscal 2019, we remained focused on delivering on our
customer commitments:
- Completed construction and began
commercial operation of the 2.8 MW renewable biogas fuel cell
project at a wastewater treatment facility in Tulare, California,
leveraging our SureSource™ fuel cell technology.
- Progress in constructing the 7.4 MW
fuel cell power plant for the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy
Cooperative on the U.S. Naval submarine base in Groton,
Connecticut.
- Winning a new renewable biogas 1.4
MW project with the City of San Bernardino, California Municipal
Water Department.
New Business Strategy
Launched
“We have launched a series of strategic
initiatives to strengthen our financial and operational position,
which we believe will enable the Company to deliver current
projects on time and budget and set the stage for future growth. As
we enter 2020, our recent performance indicates that we are on the
right track. We are implementing a comprehensive strategy to
strengthen and grow FuelCell Energy by executing on our core
business, building on customer relationships, delivering and
expanding our project backlog, and developing and commercializing
new technologies, products and markets. Our “Powerhouse” business
strategy consists of three fundamental pillars: Transform,
Strengthen, and Grow,” said Jason Few.
Transform
As described above, much of our transformation
strategy has already been accomplished, including the
following:
- Restructured
management: Appointed Jason Few as President and CEO,
promoted Michael Lisowski to EVP and COO, and Tony Leo to EVP and
CTO, and retained the balance of the existing leadership team
including Mike Bishop as EVP and CFO and Jennifer Arasimowicz as
GC, Corporate Secretary and CAO.
- Secured funding:
Closed on a $200 million senior secured credit facility with Orion
Energy Partners to support execution of current and future projects
and provide balance sheet strength and liquidity.
- Restructured
organization: Ended our engagement with Huron Consulting
after successfully restructuring our business and operations and
payoff of our prior senior secured credit facility.
- Delivered cost
savings: Realized annualized operating savings of
approximately $15 million through the restructuring of our
business.
- Refinanced debt:
Repaid a substantial portion of our short-term debt with funds from
a combination of sales of our common stock under our at-the-market
sales plan and our long-term credit facility with Orion Energy
Partners.
With our transformation already well underway,
we are now fully committed to delivering on the remaining two
pillars of the Powerhouse strategy:
Strengthen
- Capital
deployment: Continue to focus on disciplined capital
deployment and obtaining lower-cost, long-term financing and tax
equity for completed generation projects.
- Commercial
excellence: Build on customer relationships and extend our
customer-centric reputation.
- Operational
excellence: Implement a rigorous approach to project
backlog execution and on-time, on-budget delivery.
- Cost reductions:
Continued focus on lean resource management and cost reduction
opportunities.
Grow
- Sales growth:
Increase global product sales to key strategic customers, grow
service revenue through pricing strategy and enhanced energy
solutions, and reduce the cost of ownership for our customers.
- Innovation:
Increase product life and reliability, and expand commercialization
of new technologies such as carbon capture, hydrogen, biofuels,
long-term energy storage, and solid oxide systems.
- Segment
leadership: Capitalize on our expertise and competitive
advantages in key addressable markets—biofuels, microgrid
development, and the expanding hydrogen economy for industry,
transportation and electric power generation.
- Education: Ensure
federal, state and local legislators, regulators and environmental
organizations understand the environmental benefits, grid
reliability advantages and multi-featured capabilities of the
FuelCell SureSource™ platforms.
- Geographic and market
expansion: Continue to develop new clean and renewable
energy partnerships to advance carbon capture, hydrogen and
multi-fuel/biofuel technology, and pursue growth around the
world.
“I am proud of all that the FuelCell Energy
team, along with our valued partners, has accomplished during my
first five months as CEO. I am excited about our new Powerhouse
business strategy and the clear go-forward plan to execute on our
project commitments, build on our technical leadership, deliver
improved financial results for our stakeholders, and play a
critical role in environmentally sustainable baseload energy,
hydrogen and energy storage,” concluded Jason Few.
Conference Call Information
FuelCell Energy will host a conference call
today beginning at 10:00 a.m. EST to discuss the fourth fiscal
quarter and full year results for fiscal 2019 along with details of
the Company’s new business strategy. Participants can access the
live call via webcast on the Company website or by telephone as
follows:
- The live webcast of the call and
supporting slide presentation will be available at
www.fuelcellenergy.com. To listen to the call, select “Investors”
on the home page, proceed to the “Events & Presentations” page
and then click on the “Webcast” link listed under the January 22nd
earnings call event, or click here.
- Alternatively, participants can
dial 647-689-4106 and state FuelCell Energy or the conference ID
number 5086175.
The replay of the conference call will be
available via webcast on the Company’s Investors’ page
at www.fuelcellenergy.com approximately two hours after the
conclusion of the call.
Cautionary Language
This news release contains forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including,
without limitation, statements with respect to the Company’s
anticipated financial results and statements regarding the
Company’s plans and expectations regarding the continuing
development, commercialization and financing of its fuel cell
technology and its business plans and strategies. All
forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
projected. Factors that could cause such a difference include,
without limitation, changes to projected deliveries and order flow,
changes to production rate and product costs, general risks
associated with product development, manufacturing, changes in the
regulatory environment, customer strategies, ability to access
certain markets, unanticipated manufacturing issues that impact
power plant performance, changes in critical accounting policies,
access to and ability to raise capital and attract financing,
potential volatility of energy prices, rapid technological change,
competition, the Company’s ability to successfully implement its
new business strategies and achieve its goals, and the Company’s
ability to achieve its sales plans and cost reduction targets, as
well as other risks set forth in the Company’s filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements
contained herein speak only as of the date of this press release.
The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to
release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statement to
reflect any change in the Company’s expectations or any change in
events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is
based.
About FuelCell Energy
FuelCell Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) is a global
leader in developing environmentally-responsible distributed
baseload power solutions through our proprietary molten-carbonate
fuel cell technology. We develop turn-key distributed power
generation solutions and operate and provide comprehensive services
for the life of the power plant. We are working to expand the
proprietary technologies that we have developed over the past five
decades into new products, markets and geographies. Our mission and
purpose remains to utilize our proprietary, state-of-the-art fuel
cell power plants to reduce the global environmental footprint of
baseload power generation by providing environmentally responsible
solutions for reliable electrical power, hot water, steam,
chilling, hydrogen, microgrid applications, and carbon capture and,
in so doing, drive demand for our products and services, thus
realizing positive stockholder returns. Our fuel cell solution is a
clean, efficient alternative to traditional combustion-based power
generation and is complementary to an energy mix consisting of
intermittent sources of energy, such as solar and wind
turbines. Our systems answer the needs of diverse customers
across several markets, including utility companies,
municipalities, universities, hospitals, government entities and a
variety of industrial and commercial enterprises. We provide
solutions for various applications, including utility-scale
distributed generation, on-site power generation and combined heat
and power, with the differentiating ability to do so utilizing
multiple sources of fuel including natural gas, Renewable Biogas
(i.e., landfill gas, anaerobic digester gas), propane and various
blends of such fuels. Our multi-fuel source capability is
significantly enhanced by our proprietary gas-clean-up skid. Visit
us online at www.fuelcellenergy.com and follow us on Twitter
@FuelCell_Energy.
SureSource, SureSource 1500, SureSource 3000,
SureSource 4000, SureSource Recovery, SureSource Capture,
SureSource Hydrogen, SureSource Storage, SureSource Service,
SureSource Capital, FuelCell Energy, and FuelCell Energy logo are
all trademarks of FuelCell Energy, Inc.
Contact:
FuelCell Energy, Inc.ir@fce.com203.205.2491
Source: FuelCell Energy
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