A new study has discovered that revenues at fuel cell companies fell back during 2004, suggesting that there may be a cooling off of the rapid growth of previous years.

According to a survey carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers, many companies looking to develop fuel cells into a viable resource as an alternative to polluting fuels suffered poor returns over the course of the year.

The Fuel Cell Industry Survey found that the industry had a net loss of $465 million in 2004, compared to a loss of $387 million in the previous 12 months.

Those companies polled as part of the study suggested that the reason for the increasing fall in revenue is due to delays in take-up of the technology, as many of the development companies have struggled to deliver cost-effective and efficient fuel cells.

One of the major barriers to the growth of fuel cell usage is the fact that international flight regulations prevent methanol from being carried on aircraft, with those rules not due to be reviewed until 2007.

However, despite the losses, the survey also revealed that the fuel cell companies had spent two per cent more on research and development in 2004 than they had the previous year, taking the combined total for money spent on this to $221 million.


Ÿ Adfero Ltd