In Scotland two weeks ago, the Scottish Police Service agreed to European firm ITM Power‘s Hydrogen On-Site Trials, a test of hydrogen fuel cell technology and fueling stations. The trials, scheduled for early 2011, will also be conducted in England (Sheffield and Southampton). The trials are one of thousands of hydrogen-based projects going on across Europe. And Drexel University-spinoff company AlumiFuel Power–the company responsible for aluminum-powder capsules that, when delivered to water, create valuable hydrogen and steam–plans to be involved. This week, Philadelphia-based AlumiFuel announced the sale of $7.5 million in common stock of its majority-owned subsidiary, AlumiFuelPower International. The sale, officials say, will allow the company to expand internationally.
“This Memorandum of Understanding is the first step in our goal tobroaden our reach outside of North America and provide access tocapital for expansion of our product development and marketingactivities,” says AlumiFuel CEO Henry Fong.
While much of the company’s business currently focuses on lift-gas for weather balloons and flameless heaters, executives hope to expand the use of these cylinder capsules in back-up and auxiliary power for fuel cells and turbines. But they will have to act fast, as hydrogen is rapidly catching on in key worldwide markets.
“While wemust still conduct further due diligence, we believe this can be accomplished in a relativelyshort time-frame for a deal of this nature,” says Fong. “The creation of AlumiFuelInternational and this funding, if successfully completed, will allowus to expand our reach internationally and raise significant capitalto fund our operations.”
Source: Henry Fong, AlumiFuel Power
Writer: John Steele
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