Plug Power, a leader in providing clean and reliable energy solutions, has a new addition to its board of directors, Eric Prades, CEO of Air Liquide Advanced Business.

With more than 20 years of international strategic and operations leadership at Air Liquide, Prades is well versed in Hydrogen Energy markets. As of 2008, the company has developed into a prominent leader within the European hydrogen industry, having distributed hundreds of hydrogen fuel-cell systems.

In addition, Prades oversees the ambitious Horizon Hydrogen Energy (H2E) program, a 200 million Euro research and development program. With different completion targets dispersed throughout 2009 to 2016, the program currently works to build sustainable and competitive hydrogen-energy solutions in France. The program, led by Air Liquide, involves 19 other French companies and is being funded by Oseo, a French agency known for innovation.

Prior to joining Air Liquide, Prades worked for the Thomson Group, where he cultivated extensive operations experience in Europe and Asia through a variety of positions, ending as the General Manager of Operations for Thailand.

Prades is joining the Plug Power board as a part of a strategic $6.5 million investment that will help fuel strategic growth in its hydrogen fuel cell business for horizontal markets. Plug Power’s flagship GenDrive fuel cells have been successfully deployed to customer sites such as Walmart, Sysco, P&G, BMW, and the recently announced Ace Hardware Corp.

“Eric’s deep understanding of the technology and business dynamics of the hydrogen fuel cell market makes him a perfect candidate for our board of directors,” stated Andy Marsh, President and CEO of Plug Power. “I am pleased to welcome Eric to our board and I look forward to working with him as we grow Plug Power.”

To learn more, visit www.plugpower.com

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