I think the biggest thing for the utilities in the short to...

I think the biggest thing for the utilities in the short to medium term will be suring up their client bases.
Consumers have so much choice these days and are much more savvy than they have been previously (choice in EU more than AUS mind you). People are happy to walk from one supplier to another now if the price is marginally better elsewhere.

If I was a utility and I could implement a new lower emission product whilst tying customers into a multi year energy deal and provide myself (other customers) with power which is being generated close to source. All the while spruiking cleaner, greener energy, surity of supply, reduced pressure on ageing transmission infrastructure and a hell of a depreciation tax offsett. I would be pretty happy. I would be wondering what sort of order I would have to place to lock in an exclusive contract in my supply area. (All my opinon and god knows I dont work for a utility).

Sorry to say TopHat but I am not sure you have been following this one much have you? 45k? Window of opp 4-6mths? Where is this arbitrary number coming from? Engulf itself in debt? We havent even looked like taking on debt and personally for a fledgling tech co like ours I think that is the prudent decision. Get a no strings attached order and take on some debt to manage the capital involved in filling the order (help boost ROI).
Tophat, if you go back through a number of the company releases you will notice that the intended end goal price point is sub 10k per unit. If you look back through the thread (dont know how far back) there are a number of break even scenario analyses, definitely worth a look.

Good luck to all and have a great weekend.

Cheers
hak