Ballard Announces Distribution Agreement for Telecom Backup Power in India

VANCOUVER, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Ballard Power Systems (TSX: BLD;
NASDAQ: BLDP) today announced that its partners IdaTech, LLC ("IdaTech") and
ACME Group ("ACME") have terminated the existing supply agreement between the
three parties and replaced it with a new, more flexible distribution agreement
between IdaTech and ACME for fuel cell solutions for wireless telecom backup
power in India. Under the terms of this new agreement, Acme can distribute a
range of IdaTech fuel cell products, focused on the natural gas system
currently under development at IdaTech. The IdaTech natural gas fuel cell
product development, incorporating Ballard's FCgen(TM) 1300 stack, continues
with good progress, as reported by IdaTech today. Pricing and volume in the
agreement are flexible and based on local market conditions. Shipment of the
ElectraGen(TM) hydrogen systems, incorporating Ballard's FCgen(TM) 1020 fuel
cell stacks, under the original Supply Agreement is unaffected by this change.
Atul Sabharwal, Chief Operating Officer, ACME Group said, "ACME is pleased to
have a new distribution agreement with IdaTech that will enable the deployment
of fuel cell solutions in wireless telecom backup power in India. We feel as
strongly as ever that a substantial market opportunity exists for fuel cells
in India."
Hal Koyama, IdaTech's Chief Executive Officer said, "We are looking forward to
supplying ACME with our ElectraGen(TM) natural gas and hydrogen systems, both
of which incorporate Ballard's fuel cell stacks. There are tremendous
opportunities for both of these products in telecommunications backup power in
India and beyond."
John Sheridan, Ballard's President and Chief Executive Officer said, "We
continue to see clear evidence of the large market opportunity in India and
are pleased to be moving forward with this ACME-IdaTech-Ballard partnership."

Background
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As previously disclosed, the original agreement was subject to meeting product
acceptance testing (PAT) timelines. On July 2, 2009, Ballard announced that,
together with its partner IdaTech, it had passed a PAT milestone and confirmed
the order of 310 ElectraGen(TM) H2 hydrogen-based systems, incorporating 620
Ballard FCgen(TM)-1020 ACS fuel cell stacks, for ACME customers in the Indian
market. These direct hydrogen units are not impacted by the new distribution
agreement for natural gas systems. On September 23, 2009, IdaTech announced it
would likely miss the PAT for the natural gas system, scheduled for October
16, 2009.

About Ballard Power Systems

Ballard Power Systems (TSX: BLD; NASDAQ: BLDP) is recognized as a world leader
in the design, development, manufacture and sale of clean energy fuel cell
products. Ballard's mission is to accelerate fuel cell product adoption. To
learn more about what Ballard is doing with Power to Change the World(R),
visit www.ballard.com.

This release contains forward-looking statements that are provided to enable
external stakeholders to understand our expectations as at the date of this
release and may not be appropriate for other purposes. These forward-looking
statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of Ballard's management
and reflect Ballard's current expectations as contemplated under section 27A
of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such assumptions relate to Ballard's
financial forecasts and expectations regarding its product development
efforts, manufacturing capacity, and market demand, and include matters such
as generating new sales, producing, delivering and selling the expected number
of units, and controlling its costs.
These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause Ballard's
actual results to be materially different, including, without limitation, the
rate of mass adoption of its products, product development delays, changing
environmental regulations, its ability to attract and retain business partners
and customers, its access to funding, increased competition, its ability to
protect its intellectual property, changes in its customers' requirements,
foreign exchange impacts on its net monetary assets and its ability to provide
the capital required for product development, operations and marketing. For a
detailed discussion of these risk factors and other risk factors that could
affect Ballard's future performance, please refer to Ballard's most recent
Annual Information Form. Readers should not place undue reliance on Ballard's
forward-looking statements and Ballard assumes no obligation to update or
release any revisions to these forward looking statements, other than as
required under applicable legislation.

SOURCE Ballard Power Systems Inc.

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