Plug Power Announces Four New General Managers as Company Positions for Rapid Growth

New organizational design expected to improve scalability, agility and clarity for customers, investors and staff

LATHAM, N.Y., Aug. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG), a leading provider of turnkey hydrogen solutions for the global green hydrogen economy, has launched a new organizational design and appointed four general managers, positioning the company to meet the growing demand of its clean energy solutions.

The general managers — Ole Hoefelmann, Jose Luis Crespo, Keith Schmid, Sanjay Shrestha — will work closely with CEO Andy Marsh at a time when the company expects $750 million in record gross billings for calendar year 2022 alone.

Marsh said each general manager has been appointed to lead individual business units — a move that was necessary as the company shifts from a single integrated business to a portfolio of related businesses to support the global green hydrogen and fuel cell ecosystem.

“Each business unit is critical to the foundation required to scale and support our key objectives for bringing affordable green hydrogen to as many customers as possible,” Marsh said. “We need a scalable organizational structure that allows the business to grow quickly across multiple markets and geographies while rapidly delivering reliable solutions to our customers, and building out the ecosystem.”

The new organizational structure is designed to help Plug achieve its stated business growth goals, including building five green hydrogen plants, securing and supporting five "pedestal" material handling customers, establish Plug Power as the world-leader in electrolyzer solutions through safe, reliable and cost-competitive customer offers , establishing a Plug Power branded vehicle market, and continuing to drive fuel cell technology costs down.

Hoefelmann, who has more than 30 years of experience in the hydrogen space, will lead the Electrolyzer Solutions business unit where he and his team will drive the electrolyzer solutions strategy and sales growth, leveraging Plug Power’s current initiatives to build a substantial presence worldwide.

Crespo, a leader at Plug Power for 7 years, will lead the Material Handling Solutions business unit, where he will work closely with other general managers to leverage Plug Power's position in the market, accelerate growth, and improve customers' ability to achieve their sustainability goals. Crespo remains responsible for coordinating all business unit activities for pedestal customers accounts, including Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, and General Motors.

Schmid, after 8 years with Plug Power and more than 30 years in the fields of industrial power systems, energy storage, and communications power systems, will lead the Mobility and Stationary Power Solutions business unit where he will focus on successfully deploying commercial on-road vehicles, large scale stationary systems and opening a new Plug Power Innovation Center by year-end, among other goals. Schmid also drives Plug Power R&D and Product Development as Plug’s President of Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Refueling System engineering organizations.

The fourth business unit, Energy Solutions, will be led by Shrestha, who is tasked with building the first green hydrogen production network across the United States, including operational green hydrogen plants in North America by 2022 and achieving a green hydrogen generation target of 500 tons per day by 2025. Shrestha has also served as Plug’s Chief Strategy Officer since 2019.

About Plug Power Inc.
Plug Power is building the hydrogen economy as the leading provider of comprehensive hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) turnkey solutions. The Company’s innovative technology powers electric motors with hydrogen fuel cells amid an ongoing paradigm shift in the power, energy, and transportation industries to address climate change and energy security, while providing efficiency gains and meeting sustainability goals. Plug Power created the first commercially viable market for hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) technology. As a result, the Company has deployed over 40,000 fuel cell systems for e-mobility, more than anyone else in the world, and has become the largest buyer of liquid hydrogen, having built and operated a hydrogen highway across North America. Plug Power delivers a significant value proposition to end-customers, including meaningful environmental benefits, efficiency gains, fast fueling, and lower operational costs. Plug Power’s vertically-integrated GenKey solution ties together all critical elements to power, fuel, and provide service to customers such as Amazon, BMW, The Southern Company, Carrefour, and Walmart. The Company is now leveraging its know-how, modular product architecture and foundational customers to rapidly expand into other key markets including zero-emission on-road vehicles, robotics, and data centers.

Plug Power Safe Harbor Statement
This communication contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve significant risks and uncertainties about Plug Power Inc.("PLUG"), including but not limited to statements about PLUG's expectations regarding its multi-year investment and growth, PLUG’s clean hydrogen technology and fuel cell solutions playing a critical role in achieving climate and decarbonization goals, deepening of relationships with key stakeholders, and acceleration of demand and adoption of hydrogen technology. You are cautioned that such statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times that, or by which, such performance or results will have been achieved. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in these statements. For a further description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the business of PLUG in general, see PLUG’s public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the “Risk Factors” section of PLUG’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof, and PLUG undertakes no obligation to update such statements as a result of new information.

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