The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: William Chapman Peterson - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst
: The first question I have is related to the deal (inaudible) last week. It's kind of an RFI request for information phase with feedback
due by the end of March. So you have the Section 816 for electrolyzers, 813 for hubs. Look, I know you guys are aiming for coverage
in most of the country [net] projects. At least your first set of projects are ahead of any hubs that arrive. But I guess my first question
is, is Plug doing anything in terms of engagement? Or I guess, is it important to kind of steer the direction? And then secondarily,
what are your expectations, if there are any, in terms of benefits from some of these announced things from the bipartisan infrastructure
laws?
Question: William Chapman Peterson - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst
: Okay. Second question, I guess, is somewhat related, but it's also related to a few other earlier questions. When we think about your
sort of merchant business for electrolyzers as well as captive for your green hydrogen production, I guess you have -- I know you've
announced some projects in the U.S., but I guess how important is it also, let's say, I don't know, say, gain share or sell outside of
your captive business? Or would you expect these opportunities to be addressed by competitors? And I guess, really, holistically,
what is your win rate? You kind of talked earlier about you're being somewhat selective on this. But just curious, obviously, you have
Australia and Egypt and other things overseas. But curious how you view other hydrogen projects in the U.S. that are, I'd say, not
your own sort of captive production.
Question: Ameet Ishwar Thakkar - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst
: Real quick from me. Real quick from me. Just it looked like there was a pretty big sequential increase in R&D and SG&A, kind of like
60%, 70% versus the third quarter. And just kind of thinking about how we should think about that for kind of the upcoming year
or kind of next quarter. Is there some lumpiness associated with that at the end of the year? Or how do we think about that going
forward?
Question: Ameet Ishwar Thakkar - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst
: Great. That's super helpful. And then just going back to the hydrogen supply business and kind of thinking back from the start of
the year, there was obviously some of the force majeure issues that you guys have highlighted kind of throughout '21. But kind of
going forward, like you guys mentioned kind of prices as well as kind of impacting the margins on that business as we kind of exit
'21. Like there are no additional force majeure that you kind of encountered in the second half of '21, and you guys have mentioned
that a couple of times, I think, just kind of getting out of that force majeure cycle. Has that been like a problem you've incurred a lot?
And what drives that besides kind of gas supply related to weather kind of disrupted.
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