Ballard announces deal with Delta Power Solutions in India

Ballard Power Systems has announced that Dantherm Power has signed a collaboration agreement with Delta Power Solutions (India) Pvt. Ltd. [Delta] to market clean energy fuel cell power solutions in the Indian telecommunications sector. Delta Power Solutions (India) is a subsidiary of Delta Electronics (Thailand) PLC, part of the Delta Group.

Under the agreement, Dantherm Power and Delta will jointly work to deploy product field trials comprised of Dantherm Power's direct hydrogen 2-kilowatt (kW) DBX2000 fuel cell system as well as its 5kW DBX5000 fuel cell system, which will be integrated by Delta, along with its Site Management & Control System (SMCS), and deployed at telecom customer sites in India. Delta will take responsibility for installation, commissioning, maintenance and management of these field deployments. These sites will be remotely monitored by Delta's Network Operation Centre (NOC).

John Sheridan, CEO of Ballard & Chairman, Dantherm Power said, "This agreement represents a practical, managed approach to backup power market development in India. Delta will leverage its existing telecom industry relationships in order to identify interested customers, and Delta will provide on-the-ground support throughout the trial period. Onsite expertise and customer support is the key to gaining traction with solutions that are new to the market, such as fuel cells in the India telecom sector."

These field trials will enable an informed assessment of the commercial market opportunity, including identification of appropriate fuel cell solutions. Commercial deployments in India would then benefit from Delta's in-country marketing, sales, distribution and servicing capabilities.

Dalip Sharma, Managing Director of Delta Power Solutions, said, "We are very pleased to be working with PEM fuel cell products from premier providers such as Dantherm Power and Ballard. This collaborative partnership has all the right elements for a successful evaluation of the market opportunity and for potentially large-scale product roll-out down the road."

Delta Power Solutions serves many of the largest service and infrastructure providers in the Indian telecom industry, including Indus, Bharti, Vodafone, Reliance and Idea Cellular.