degradation issues sorted out

I don't get it.

As far as I can tell, the amazing news we were waiting for, that the degradation issues have been sorted out, has been announced last week.

Therefore, there should be no further barriers to CFU being able to sell to Nuon, once the factory is built and Nuon have finalised their integrated build specifications etc. It also means that the four other partners should be knocking on CFU's door soon to lock in their orders, now that they've got the technology to the point where it is commercially viable.

Yes, there are short-term cash-flow funding issues, and they've announced a slight delay in completing the factory build, but surely (excuse the double-meaning) these are minor matters given the enormity of what has been achieved and the potential bonanza that awaits.

Yet the SP is lower than prior to the halt, although there has been a mass of technological breakthoughs announced, there's enough money for at least the next quarter without having to do fire sales for remaining investments, and to their credit the management are clearly not panicking in terms of how to handle the cash flow. I fail to see how
their technology partners if no one else will not come to their aid in short-term funding when required, so what's with the SP?!

Please correct me if my thought processes are wrong, or if I've interpretted their technology breakthroughs incorrectly (e.g. I'm sure Jaded could bring me right down to earth with just a few sentences), but I just don't get it! The SP should be at 30c-40c+ and rising by now, not 13.5c imho.

As there was no direct comment on my previous post on the topic, I'll include a copy of the post I did on 18th Dec., as it has probably been missed in the subsequent discussions. Please correct me if anybody sees folly in the following:-

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Kaching!!!!!

Woaaahhhhhh!!!!!

Is it my imagination, or is this the Eureka moment we've been waiting for!

It sounds like the degradation rate has been sorted out, or at least to an impressively low rate.

It says that "Fuel cell stack life has improved more than 80% in the last 12 months. CFCL is now achieving a degradation rate of less than 0.2% per 1,000 hours, on a stack that has been producing 1kW of power for 7,000 hours in a test station. The Company is on track to repeat these results in a complete system during 2009 to achieve a key commercial target of a projected stack life of 4-5 years (40,000 hours).".

Back in July, they said that "Fuel cell stack lifetime has also continued to improve significantly. Degradation has reduced by 35% in only four months from 1.53% / 1000 hours reported in February 2008 to less than 1% / 1000 hours, when operating a 1kW stack in a test station at 750oC on natural gas.".

So, it's gone from 1.53% to 1% in June to less than 0.2%!!! Unless my physics / maths / understanding of this technology fails me, it seems like a dodle to achieve "4-5 years (40,000 hours)" if it only loses >0.2% / 1000 hours ... my rough calc with it compounding would make that 8-9% degradation over that time. Please correct me if I'm wrong (probably!).

The increase to 55% efficiency doesn't hurt at all either!

Also, they've achieved the full integration ahead of schedule as well ... that was meant to be 2009.

Excuse me if I'm too euphoric (on what I think is great news ... again, please peg me back a bit if required) to focus on the other news they've sugar coated, which is that they're delaying the opening of the factory. Presumably they've done that not only to save costs but due to rationalisation that there would have been a slow start up process for demand vs. supply, therefore a good place to trim costs.

Looking forward to hear other posts, to see if I've read this right or not ...

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Cheers, and Happy X-Mas / Merry New Year and any other festivals you might happen to be celebrating atm.

p.s. for better or for worse, I bought more this morning at the open, at just 13c ... and more than doubled my holding with less than 10% of what I've spent previously