Ballard Power Systems has revealed it will defer the final investment decision (FID) on its 3GW hydrogen fuel cell factory in Texas, US, while holding onto $94m of government funding.
Now expected in 2026, the FID is part of what Ballard describes as an “optionality plan “ to reassess the project depending on future demand.
Having secured a combined $94m in US federal funding to develop the factory, the company has confirmed it will be able to “preserve” the funding despite the delayed FID.
Ballard President and CEO, Randy MacEwen, said, “With no material capital investments planned during this optionality period, we will reassess the underlying business case in 2026.”
The decision was revealed in the firm’s Q3 results where it logged a net loss of $204.5m, including non-cash impairment charges due to a major restructure announced in September. Adjusted EBITDA widened by 72% from -$34.9m to -$60.1m.
Reporting a 45% slip in year-on-year revenues in the quarter to $14.8m, it comes just weeks after Ballard announced the restructuring programme to save 30% in spending.
Read more:Ballard restructures: Job cuts, executive changes, strategic shift in China
That programme has led to a $16.1m charge, as well as non-cash impairments totalling around $147m.
In Q3, Ballard saw its biggest slip in stationary power revenues, which fell 82% year on year to $0.5m. Heavy-duty mobility fell by 38% to $12.8m.
Accepting the “tough” quarter, MacEwen said, “We have taken difficult but important actions to better align our spending with a multi-year push-out in market adoption of hydrogen and PEM fuel cells.”
He added that the company expects a “substantial part” of the annualised saving costs attributed to its cost reductions to be realised in 2025.
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