5 Things I learned at Distribu TECH

The Top Five Things I Learned at DistribuTECH 2017

I recently attended DistribuTECH 2017 in San Diego with a small team from our Israeli headquarters.  With more than 10,000 visitors over three days and brisk traffic to our booth, DistribuTECH was a great opportunity to share our message and hear from customers and prospects. While I learned a lot, here are the top five:

1. Fuel cells and hydrogen are a new hot trend in California.
   Hydrogen-based fuel cell vehicles are fast becoming a reality in the state of California. The sexy new Toyota Mirai as well as vehicles from Honda and other car manufacturers are just part of the solution. The state government has earmarked $200 million for as many as 100 new hydrogen stations in the next several years. This means that there will be a viable hydrogen infrastructure to support fuel cell vehicles and help California reach its goals of reducing carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
2. Growth in fuel cell automotive programs are influencing utilities and companies to look at fuel cells for business continuity.
   Hydrogen fuel cells are no longer seen as mysterious technology that never quite caught on. Trusted big automotive brands are educating the public about the safety of hydrogen compared to other fuels and about recent technological advances that have lowered costs. GenCell’s own breakthroughs for reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO) struck a chord with booth visitors, especially the elimination of platinum as a catalyst and our use of industrial-grade hydrogen for fuel.
3. Fuel cells are now seen as an ideal solution for business continuity.
   Many visitors to our booth were very interested in our robust, powerful alternative backup system for supporting utility substations and other critical assets during a loss of grid power. They especially liked GenCell’s ability to provide an immediate injection of power and our ability to overcome their two most-critical pain points: the limited duration of batteries and the stench, noise and startup time of diesel generators.
4. The GenCell G5rx is at the right place at the right time.
   The GenCell G5rx was a hot topic with booth visitors since many had read the news coverage about the GenCell G5rx installation at SDG&E. They all agree that each second of a power outage is a huge disruption for utility customers and very costly to their businesses. They recognize that GenCell’s solution will increase the reliability of their service while offering a breakthrough in providing clean energy.
5. SDG&E is a great customer and partner.
   We have been very fortunate to have found an ideal customer and partner in San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) for the launch of our commercial activities in the USA. We found SDG&E to be a company that was open-minded, with top notch engineers and highly-qualified scientists who allowed a true meeting of the minds. For me, it has been really inspiring to work with such amazing people who have taught us so much, shared their vision for the future of sustainable power, and opened their facility to journalists and energy professionals in order to share their success with our fuel-cell-based business continuity power solution.