This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.
Operator
Hello, and welcome to the Plug Power third quarter 2020 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Teal Hoyos. Teal, please begin.
Teal Hoyos
Thank you. Welcome to the Plugged Power 2020 Third Quarter Earnings Call. This call will include forward-looking statements. We intend these forward-looking statements to be covered by the Safe Harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. We believe that it is important to communicate our future expectations to investors. However, investors are cautioned not to unduly rely on forward-looking statements because they involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those discussed as a result of various factors, including but not limited to risks and uncertainties discussed under Item 1A, Risk Factors, in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2019, as well as other reports we file from time to time with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the day in which the statements are made, and we do not undertake or intend to update any forward-looking statements after this call. At this point, I would like to turn the call over to Plug Power's CEO, Andy Marsh.
Item 1A
Thank you, Teal, and thank you for joining Plug Power's third quarter conference call. I'd just like to provide a few minutes overview. Please refer to our investor letter for detailed description of the past quarter. First, I'd like to highlight our operational performance. Company achieved 126 million in gross billing. This represents 106% increase from the third quarter of 2019. Second, this quarter, is really a strong validation of our business model in years to come. I think many of you know we're targeting 20% EBITDA in 2024. We achieved 19% EBITDA on an adjusted basis this past quarter, generating $21.2 million of adjusted EBITDA. The cost of warrants greatly increased this past quarter because of our increasing stock price, which can hide this significant achievement. Third, and just to highlight the acceleration of our business, in all of 2018, we shipped approximately 5,000 units versus the 4,000 gen drive units delivered the past quarter. We also built 13 hydrogen fuel stations this quarter. Again, another record. This business is growing as expected. And we are moving in to on-road vehicles and large-scale backup power systems. First on on-road vehicles, we have deals with Linde, Doosan, and Lightning. We also have a fourth large OEM, which we are deploying vehicles for testing in Europe. Our approach to the on-road vehicle market is really straightforward. Partnerships for ventures with large OEMs, which may require some product modifications on our part for large-scale business, and standard products for integrators and low-volume applications. Now, the reason we can do it is because of the high density of our ProGem module, which is 30% to 45% higher power density than our competitors, making our products easier for customers to integrate into existing battery electric vehicles. very similar to our approach to electric forklift trucks. These same pro-gen building blocks we've developed for on-road vehicles is leveraged into our large-scale backup power solution. We have closed deals for this product, and we'll be deploying units at the end of the second quarter of 2021. I've become increasingly more excited about this opportunity for both data center customers And now I'm finding logistic customers. The same restrictions limiting deployment of internal combustion engines in certain regions for vehicles, we are now also seeing similar regulations impacting the deployment of diesel generators for large-scale backup power systems. Fuel cell and hydrogen, because of energy and gravimetric density, have the same advantages in the markets as on-road vehicles versus batteries. An example that I've been told from both a logistic customer and a data center customer that the regional restrictions are real. For example, California is forming customers that they must prepare to have 96 hours of backup power because of the instability of the electrical grid. And by the way, they say, you can't use diesel gensets. We believe that hydrogen fuel cells are really the only viable solution to meet this requirement. And I think what's more important, in my opinion, I think you're hearing end customers say the same. I'd also like to highlight our progress in building five green hydrogen plants that will generate 100 tons of green hydrogen by 2024. We have announced partnerships with APEX and Brookfield to provide a source of green hydrogen from solar, wind, or hydropower. We're in the design phase for two of our new hydrogen plants and expect completion by the end of 2022. We're leveraging our expertise in operating designing plants from our recent United acquisition and the ability to convert renewables into green hydrogen from our acquisition of Giener ELF. The demand for green hydrogen is closely tied to our present customers' sustainability goals. Plug Power is projecting that by 2024, our own internal demand will approach 100 times per day. With another note of interest to investors, our Gigafactory is progressing, and with the election now over, we expect an announcement will be forthcoming for the location. The equipment to support the Gigafactory is on order, and we expect first production in late Q2 2021. And finally, I'd like to highlight that we will be increasing our gross billing target for this year from $310 million to $325 to $330 million. The demand for our products will continue to grow, and this will be another record quarter. Paul and I are now ready to take questions.
Operator
Thank you, and I'll be conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to be placed into question queue, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Once again, that's star one to be placed into question queue. If you're on a speakerphone, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing star one. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Our first question today is coming from Colin Rush from Oppenheimer. Your line is now live.
Colin Rush
Thanks so much, and guys, congrats on all the progress. Hi, Colin, Drew, Andy. It's always good to hear your voice. As you're looking at these hydrogen plants, and I know you've done a lot of work on the financing side, can you just give us an update on where you're at, the number of partners you're thinking about working with on the finance side, and any sort of detail around deal structure that you guys might be looking at at this point?
Item 1A
So, Colin, I can tell you a little. And then I'm going to kind of punt on the remainder of your question, but just to kind of give some guidance, we do expect to break ground on two of these plans, one with Apex, one by Brookfield by the end of the year. When we look at the finance side, I probably would be thinking about 30% of the financing being equity and 70% being debt. We are in discussions with not only financial, potential financial backers, but also people who are more industrial related. And I would expect that more will be coming in the future. Okay, great.
Colin Rush
Thanks. And then just shifting to the stationary power issue, opportunity for you guys, you know, having a product in the market is meaningful. Can you talk a little bit about the customer dynamics, how far through the testing process you are with any of those folks, how big that funnel is, and, you know, a little bit of detail around the fuel logistics for those gen sets?
Item 1A
Yeah, I think that, you know, we're really, you know, beginning to do the first deployments in the second core column, and that You know, we do have both customers in the data center space as well as in the logistics space, which quite honestly, you know, the issues in California really accelerated some of that discussion. You know, I think it's a business that you probably won't see meaningful revenue to 2022. from my perspective, uh, um, the funnel continues to grow. Uh, you know, you see activities, not only, uh, you know, I've, I've kind of mentioned the logistic operations with our present customers. Uh, you see activities with, uh, data center customers. Uh, you also see activities for people thinking about micro grids. So, um, You know, it's a real interesting opportunity. But you actually hit on a question I spent a lot of time thinking about, is that how one thinks about the hydrogen for these solutions and, you know, do they become almost depot points also to support other customers? So, you know, you could see hydrogen, you know, at data center or logistics center being generated on site. provide backup, but that also could be a point of distribution. And we actually do a model like that for the Southern Company, which during this past hurricane, we've really demonstrated the success of. So we have 500 small-scale backup power systems with 500 small-scale backup power systems for the Southern Company and we actually service them from one or two of our customers for distribution customers. But that is actually one of the more interesting opportunities, and because we have uses for hydrogen in so many applications, that it kind of really makes sense because, you know, we're system guys, and you have to always think about how systems all fit together. That's a real interesting question.
Colin Rush
Yeah, that's incredibly helpful, Andy.
Andy
Thanks so much, and I'll pass it on here. Okay.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is coming from Craig Irwin from Roth Capital Partners. Your line is now live.
Craig Irwin
Good morning, and thanks for taking my questions.
Item 1A
Good morning, Craig.
Craig Irwin
Hey, Andy. Congrats on a really solid quarter here. I mean, it's nice to see Plug really showing that it can deliver significantly What I wanted to ask about is the EBITDA. This is a really impressive result. Can you maybe talk about what's going right for you on the earnings side? Where do we need to focus to see whether or not this kind of performance is sustainable over the next couple quarters? I know your guidance is more conservative, and you tend to give conservative guidance, but can you talk us through some of the things you're learning that's allowing you to deliver really strong EBITDA on the bottom line?
Item 1A
That's a good question, Craig. First, I think the easy part of that is delivering on this next fourth quarter for our increasing guidance. But if I then take a step back, I think one of the critical items is the announcement of the next pedestal customer. Jose Crespo, our EVP of sales, is actually working with four customers, two in North America, who could be that next pedestal customer. And if I was monitoring plug, that's an item I would monitor. You know, I would be monitoring, you know, Are they making an announcement for large-scale backup power systems and one-row vehicles that could be meaningful to 2024 revenue? So that would kind of be another guidepost I would use. And then I would look at our success. Look, I'm saying we're breaking ground by the end of the year on two sites. I would be looking for some meaningful announcements and more details about those two sites with hydrogen. So that's, you know, that's kind of my PowerPoint for the next 90, 450, and 450 days, and they're the kind of things I'm looking for to make sure we're on track.
Craig Irwin
Thank you for that. So usually when plug has such a strong core like this, the stock responds very favorably, very positively, but You know, the stock is, you know, maybe a little bit more tepid than many of us would have expected. You know, it seems like your guidance, the raised gross bookings or gross billings guidance, implies, you know, $84 to $89 million in the fourth quarter. And consensus is out there at $90 million. Can you maybe tell us if there was something pulled forward in the third quarter from the fourth quarter? Is there something seasonal where some of your pedestal customers can't take deliveries in the Thanksgiving, Christmas, holiday period because it interrupts their sales? What's going on there with the sequential revenue progression, given that you've had such a strong quarter now and it doesn't read as strong? Is this just conservative? You know, are you just giving us numbers that you're very confident you can make?
Item 1A
Yeah. You know, Craig, I've learned to be – you know, I've done this for a dozen years, and I've been less wrong recently than I've been in the past. So it's taught me to be conservative. That being said, I think you also make another really valid point. You know, my major customers are in the – logistics business associated with their big business and season is the holiday season. During the holiday season, they don't want to change everything. They spend all year preparing. I think you see the mix of customers in the fourth quarter different. This happens every year. You see more activity in the auto space and manufacturing in the fourth quarter than we generally see earlier in the year and less than the logistics space. So I think, you know, again, this next quarter is going to be incredibly stronger than the fourth quarter of 2019. And, you know, we see the first quarter of 2021 increasing dramatically from the first quarter of 2020. So we're seeing the progress all along.
Craig Irwin
Thank you for that color. My next question is about UHG and the Tennessee plant. So can you just give us a little bit of color? I guess color is a good pun. Do you consider this a green, gray, blue, a hydrogen plant, given that you are using waste hydrogen off one of Olin Chemical's plants? And can you maybe comment about the carbon intensity of that plant? on a relative basis versus the other plants that produce hydrogen for transportation and fuel cells in North America?
Item 1A
Sure. So, one, what do I consider? I think it's fair to consider it a blue hydrogen plant. You know, just, you know, and I think, you know, Craig, you mentioned I'm conservative about definitions of hydrogen. uh, definitions, uh, and, uh, and I, you know, I think a pure green hydrogen plant is one that, uh, you know, is coming from hydropower, uh, coming from wind, coming from solar. I, you know, you know, we, even though, uh, look, the plant in Tennessee, that hydrogen just be burned off in the air if we weren't using it, uh, from a CI score, uh, We're actually doing a deep, deep dive at the moment. And, you know, our goal is a CI score for that plant that we get to about a 50 CI score. And, you know, at the pump. And now our other goal is that, Craig, we're looking to, you know, ultimately deliver that hydrogen using, you know, fuel cells and green fuel cells and green hydrogen to bring it to the customer. So there's less of an impact from wells to wheels. But, you know, look forward to telling you more about that. We're having a detailed study going on at the moment.
Craig
Hello?
Andy
Thank you.
Operator
Our next question is from Eric Stein from Craig Hallam. Your line is now live.
Andy
Hi, Eric. How are you?
Eric
I'm doing fine. Are you? Good. Good. So I jumped on a little late. I apologize if I'm going to cover some things you already have, but, um, so curious on the, I know you've talked about four on-road programs. You're targeting mid 21, um, you know, where we could see some movement there and where it could start to contribute to revenues. But I know you're also talking about a large OEM in Europe. So, I mean, curious, is that one of those four? Is this a new customer or partner? And then, you know, maybe what we can look for as part of that relationship?
Item 1A
Sure. So it is one of the four, Eric. And, you know, before you joined the call, I mentioned we have deals going on with Lindy, Gasan, and Lightning at the moment. We have the fourth OEM. Um, you know, when I think about this market, I think about, uh, you know, there's going to be two channels, mainly the market for us. One is partnerships or ventures with the large OEMs. And another one is leveraging our standard products, uh, to the integrators. Uh, you know, I, you know, I don't want to be, you know, those four programs are ongoing to in Europe, to in the U S, um, look, uh, I look forward to making more announcements as soon as possible, but these discussions always take slightly longer than I expect. I can tell you I expected to announce the United deal in early March, and I announced it in early June or late June, so I've learned to be a little cautious, but meaningful discussions and plans are ongoing, and Hope to be telling you more about it soon.
Eric
Got it. Okay, and then last one for me, just, you know, on pedestal customers. You've talked about that you hope to sign one by the end of 2020. Curious if that's still the outlook. And then, I mean, is it still, I think you've said in the past, to get to your 2024 goals? you know, that you'd target six to seven in total. Wondering if that's still the number as well.
Item 1A
Yeah, I think the number is six. And so earlier in the call, I mentioned that Jose is working with Jose Crespo, our EVP of sales, is working with two potential pedestal store customers in the United States, two in Europe. and we still expect that we'll have one done by year end.
Eric
Okay, and you said six is kind of the number you're targeting for 2024. That's correct.
Andy
Okay, thanks a lot. Okay, thanks, Eric.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question today is coming from Christopher Seller from B-Riley. Your line is now live.
Christopher Seller
Hey, guys, thanks for taking the question. First, I wanted to see if you could walk through some of the warrant mechanics. As of the second quarter, about half of the Amazon warrants had vested and a smaller portion of the Walmart warrants had. I thought these were typically more paid in installments as those tranches hit. Was this just a matter of very large orders during the quarter or exercise of some of those warrants? Could you kind of remind us how the math works on that?
Item 1A
Sure. I'm going to tell you, I'm going to start off and then I'm going to hand it off to, uh, Paul, Chris. So, uh, but the warrants actually get charged, uh, against, uh, each order. So, um, the, I know this may be hard for folks to understand, uh, the higher warrant charges, which is a non-cash event. It's actually a real positive. So, uh, one of our pedestal customers in the third quarter actually exceeded the, you know, the tranche where the warrant price gets reset. And, you know, the warrant price is reset at a rate that's actually 10x higher in cost than the original ones, which is a real good item since those warrant strike prices over $13 versus the original strike price of $1.19. What it really says with these increased warrant charges is that you've seen increased purchases of our products. And I think on the last item I would highlight, the fact that the stock is doing so well and the fact that the strike price for the warrants is now, you know, you know, 11, 12 times higher, it ultimately means less dilution for shareholders. So, though it's somewhat hard to see maybe in GAAP financials all the time, this less dilution is really, really good and something we negotiated three years ago to protect shareholders, and it's really proven now. So, Paul, would you like to add to this from an accounting point of view?
Paul
Yeah, I think, you know, you covered it, Andy. It's really two factors in terms of the jump in the cost rate from a gap basis, which is increased purchases and, you know, them moving into the final tranche, which now the price has been set. And because it's 10x, you know, we use the Black-Scholes methodology, which is the proven accounting approach to use. and um you know those are those are worth the the cost value is higher so you just get a book effect which as andy said is non-cash but um those are the two drivers that drove that that increase and uh um you know and that's that's why you see the delta change but uh in the quarter got it and then on the um uh the opportunity within uh backup power stations
Christopher Seller
You had targeted, you know, that as a portion of the $250 million by 2024. You know, maybe just from a high level, do you see this progressing similar to material handling where, you know, several kind of key customers that are going to be doing kind of a line share? And how many customers do you think you'd need to kind of hit those longer-term targets? You know, is it going to be kind of announcements like that that give visibility? I just wanted to get an idea of what the ramp and pipeline should look like there.
Item 1A
Chris, that's a good question, and I think there are some differences. One, I think you're absolutely right that the initial ramp of that business will be more associated with large customers or large owners of data centers. Yeah, I think you know some of those names. And I think that'll be the initial success. But, you know, as well as maybe with some of our present logistic customers, I think ultimately, you know, large-scale diesel generators are going to have more and more, I'll say, policy pressure and customer pressures. And that, you know, I think that you'll see more and more enterprise opportunities, you know, take a hotel where you may have a large scale diesel generator set today in a city that won't allow it anymore. And, you know, thinking through those models and how to go to market, you know, probably as a post 2024 activity. I do think it's really a large market opportunity, which will first take off with big customers, take off because of policy, both the customer's policies and government policies.
Andy
And, you know, it's a real, real interesting opportunity.
Christopher Seller
That's helpful. And then just last one, I wanted to see if you could walk through some of the moving pieces on the fuel margins. Obviously, the sales are up, but the gross margins are down. I assume United Hydrogen is added in there. You know, I was curious if there are any kind of one-time items or how we should think about kind of the rampant margins over the next few quarters there as you start to make a dent with some of the integration of green hydrogen strategies.
Item 1A
Paul, do you want to talk about the margins? Because I think the margins probably are better on a non-GAAP basis.
Paul
Yeah, if you look on a non-GAAP basis, it was effectively breakeven for the quarter. And I think what you're seeing is the benefit of the United Hydrogen starting to kick in. And as we've talked publicly, we're actually investing to ramp additional capacity out of that existing facility. And as that starts to kick in and we're able to utilize that, you know, you'll see continued progression. And, you know, I think as we move into next year, we're actually thinking – I mean, we're continuing to invest in increased efficiencies in the systems, making big strides. So I think directionally you're going to continue to see great leverage in that product line as we start to – leverage the existing facility we have, leverage the existing capacity we have, invest in efficiencies, and then, you know, as early 23, when the new capacity comes online, there'll be, again, another big step function. So, you know, we're pleased with the direction that we're making and the efforts, and I think you're going to continue to see that continue to play out.
Andy
Understood. Thanks for the call in there. I'll have that connected to you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is coming from Jed Dorsheimer from Canaccord Genuity. Your line is now live.
Andy
Hi, Jed.
Jed
Hi, thanks. Hey, guys. A couple questions. I guess, Andy, first, if I just kind of read between the lines, you sound a lot more bullish and optimistic than I've heard in the past, so it could just be me misunderstanding, but around backup power. And so I guess I just wanted to unpack that a little bit. And I'm curious, is your optimism more market dynamics in terms of what you've seen unfold over the past 90 days or so? Or, you know, does it have more to do with your two acquisitions? Because I would think that maybe United and Geiner would... Is that what changed it? Or have you always been this bullish and I just wasn't paying attention to that?
Item 1A
Jed, I think your read of me is correct. If you would have sat down with me a year and a half ago, you would have never...
Andy
heard me be so positive about the backup power market.
Item 1A
And, you know, I think what primarily changed is that, you know, I'm hearing it from customers, people who would be users of these products. So I, you know, so, you know, I'll give you an example, you know, On National Hydrogen Day, which I'm sure everyone here celebrated, I was on a panel with Microsoft. And Microsoft explained why hydrogen was the right solution for data centers in the future. And they're believing that it'd be cost competitive with internal combustion engines by 2024. I think it's, you know, those sort of bullish notions I also hear from our logistic customers. And then, you know, finally, I think you hit on another point that our ability to provide a full system solution with electrolyzers, as well as ability now to distribute hydrogen, which I think is going to be important for large-scale backup power. as all the combination of both of them have made me more bullish about this market.
Andy
Got it.
Jed
You know, I wonder, you know, I think one of the challenges for you and other companies in this space is changing the conversation. You know, you had just mentioned in terms of compared to traditional internal combustible. But, It seems like the efficiency compare, as well as even the negative externalities, really isn't the competition. So, for example, in the battery backup, and this is why I asked the question, and in particular your acquisition of United, the fact that when you look at the complexity of the grid and The fact that in California, utilities are actually shutting off solar in the middle of the day to keep from substations blowing up, that that generation and those electrons could be used somewhere to gain some value versus just shuttering it. Therefore, your comparison is to, you know, I would think akin to driving through Trenton and looking at the flaring of refineries, that that energy is just going into the sky. And in the same way, hydrogen seems like that's the lowest hanging fruit, so you don't get in this really – physics ending conversation comparing the storage to that of lithium ion or other storage solutions where hydrogen has a lower down conversion in the round trip of that energy.
Item 1A
Yeah. I think that's an interesting point, Jed. You know, when I think about it, I'm going to answer your question too. First, I think you hit on a very valuable point. Two other points. One, when one thinks about storage, there's been significant work done by people like Jack Brower at UC Irvine, by the DOE, that kind of shows that from an energy density point of view, from a cost point of view, that after about 11 hours, hydrogen is the best storage medium. In a place like California, you not only have to think about inter-day storage, but long-term seasonal storage. Now, I think the other point I would make is that when you think about short-term storage and you're creating it to hydrogen, for example, in California. The value of that hydrogen as a fuel, which is really needed, is actually more valuable than going back into the grid or being pumped into the natural gas line. So I think when you think about fuel cells and hydrogen, For long-term storage, hydrogen is really clear. But for short-term storage, it actually may create more value using hydrogen as a fuel, B2B using hydrogen, just creating it back to electricity and putting it on the grid.
Andy
Got it. Okay.
Jed
So I guess where I'm going with all this is you think of the business and you think of the – you know, you've provided targets in 2024 that was largely based on a model that was primarily that of fuel cells with a slight contribution in terms of hydrogen production. Are you rethinking that in the context of – these, you know, this increased optimism with respect to hydrogen production, which seems to, and backup, which seems to be skewed more heavily to that of the production, as you just mentioned, in terms of short-term and the value of that fuel that's being created. And then I do have two more follow-ups.
Andy
Sure. So, Jed,
Item 1A
We think every day about how to accelerate the growth of the business. And having done this for a dozen years, you know, we try to make sure we focus on, you know, put numbers out there that we feel comfortable with that we can hit so that I don't have a bad earnings call. That being said, I think we're just beginning to touch on the value of hydrogen in the marketplace. And, you know, when I think about it, it's almost like I think this is going to be a play in market where folks who, like wireless networks, who build out the hydrogen generation that's green,
Jed
uh we'll get it fastest we'll get a unfair share of the market and our goal is to get an unfair share of the market got it um so uh two questions for paul um thank you andy by the way oh you're welcome uh first question uh is just how to think of, you know, you're beating on billings as well as increasing outlook on billings, but revenue is in line. And I'm just wondering, should we think about this quarter is indicative in terms of the ratio between revenue wreck and billings, or was this an anomaly?
Paul
Well, gross billings for us is gross revenue. It's equivalent. It's just a term that we use. So the only difference is the warrant charges in terms of how that's reflected in the financials. So the gross billings reflect really the commercial revenues that I've recognized in the quarter. So the traction that you're seeing is directly correlated to the activity underlying the business. So it's, I think, you know, from a modeling standpoint, you know, I think, you know, we can give, you know, talk about percentage of sales and stuff like we've done in the past and how that might play out in the future. But from an underlying business perspective and just understanding the dynamics, think about that being a true reflection of the shipments and deliveries that we made in the quarter. And as we progress, I think they'll continue to be correlated. I hope that's helpful, Jen.
Jed
It is. Got it. My mistake on that. So second question and last one for me. So, Paul, you were quoted in terms of saying that I think in a publication, one of the most important things for a plug would be that of the ITC tax credits for vendor financing. And, you know, with the administration change, which would seem to put into a scenario analysis, a more favorable spin to your outlook. I'm just wondering if you could just expand upon that because it seems like, you know, for me, it was the first time that I had heard that from you guys. And I'm just wondering how, if you could articulate, I'm assuming that that's for your customers financing the equipment. But I was wondering if you could just speak to that a little bit.
Paul
Yeah, I think, you know, there's many factors in general. I mean, I think it's one as opposed to maybe the most important. But I would say, you know, the most efficient place to monetize the tax benefits and finance the projects is in the traditional bank market. It's where our customers often go to for those that use traditional models. I mean, a lot of customers lease their trailers and their forklifts and their other operation assets. And two, they often lease their fuel cell systems. And so because it's eligible for the investment tax credit, they go to the traditional market, the traditional banks. But what you've seen this year is in the market in general, and this is true for solar and wind and others, is that You know, a lot of the banks have had, you know, losses from COVID and other effects going on in the market. And obviously, when you reduce your taxable income, you kind of impact the available investment tax, you know, capacity in the market. So I think as we go forward, you know, I think my discussion previously when the quotes I think were around, you know, ways that things could be beneficial. You know, obviously, you know, first and foremost, economy picks up. The banks, you know, have more income. Secondly, you know, things like the 1603 grants, if they were to reinstate that, that's a big change in, you know, in terms of benefits of being able to access the market, not dependent on having the taxable income to be able to take the credits, you know. So it's more about just making it easier to access the banks and, and, and if we're not disreplugged with customers in general and, uh, those things can be enablers, but fortunately we've got enough traction outside of that, that it's not the, the sole factor, I guess the best way to think about it is just, you know, one of many dynamics and we've had, you know, many customers who sign on and don't take the tax credits and still yield tremendous benefits and in the programs. And so, um, And, you know, as I said, it's just one of many dynamics that we think about in terms of opportunities.
Operator
Thank you. As a reminder, that's star one to be placed in the question queue. Our next question today is coming from Amit Dayal from HC Wainwright. Your line is now live.
Andy
Hi, Amit.
spk04
How are you? Morning, Andy. Thank you for taking my questions. Congrats on the strong quarter, by the way. For the two plants, Andy, you are breaking ground on, could you give us a sense of the completion timeframe and then how should we think about utilization levels ramping at these facilities?
Item 1A
Sure. Two plants, one which will be in the northeast and one which will be in the southwest, and it'll come online in the second half of 2022, probably the fourth quarter of 2022. And we would expect that those plants would be fully utilized, I would say, by early 2024.
spk04
Understood. Thank you for that. And do you have a sense of maybe sort of the margin impact from these plants you know getting to full utilization in the 2024 period yeah so a full utilization we expect these plants to be in line with the 30 to 35 percent gross margin wow thank you and just sort of you know when we look at these warrants right previously you know there's seem to be a little bit of an overhang, but do you feel these are now sort of a little bit of an edge, you know, protecting or has protected the business from maybe competitors, et cetera, given that, you know, these, uh, large pedestrian customers were tied to, you know, just, uh, not really being able to go to anybody else, but you guys, you know, I think the key item is that we need to perform for our customers every day and focus on, uh,
Item 1A
providing our customers value. Uh, and, uh, you know, it's, uh, that's really, uh, you know, you know, next to preparing for calls like this, uh, admit, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about the boards. I think about how to keep on making sure that plug power is delivering value for our customers.
spk04
Just one last one. Um, you know, with respect to sort of your 24, 25 guidance, You know, what's the contribution from Europe expected to be towards that guidance?
Item 1A
Yeah, I would expect Europe, you know, if I look at next year, you know, I think Europe contributes 10% of our revenue. And I would think by 2024, you can expect it to be in the 15% to 20% range.
Andy
That's all I have, Andy. Thank you so much. All right, take it easy, Mitch.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question today is coming from Moses Sutton from Barclays. Your line is now live.
Moses Sutton
Congrats on all the execution. Hi, how's it going, Andy?
Item 1A
Okay, Moses. You're last but not least, Moses.
Moses Sutton
Oh, thank you very much. Appreciate you being at the end here. And apologies if I missed this before, but did you provide 2021 adjusted EBITDA target Or just even if you could speak more generally, is the EBITDA margin going to be above 15%? We're looking at 60, 70 million range off of the 450 million in billings. Any sort of directional view there would be quite helpful. Thanks.
Craig
Paul, are you there?
Paul
Yeah, I'm sorry. I wasn't sure if you wanted me to respond. uh we haven't given that guidance moses i mean i think you know i guess at this point what i what i can tell you is it will definitely be higher um but we you know we haven't really provided that we you know we know uh we see the pipeline the sales are going to be higher and we see um you know continued progression and all margin profiles for all our product lines so we're very confident it will continue to uh be accretive and go up, but we haven't given a specific range yet. We have a business plan scheduled for January, end of January, as we do every year. And at that point, we might be in a better position to give you more specificity.
Moses Sutton
Great. Looking forward to that. And maybe to, I guess, end the call here on this really out there question. Would you ever consider integrating some ownership of solar and wind assets, truly controlling the full integration from electricity generation to hydrogen production and its use? Maybe there could be some synergies there. These assets are easy to operate with third parties. Why not control the very full process ultimately one day? But I know that's an out-there question for you, Andy.
Item 1A
Well, Moses, I think we've bitten off enough – With our plans at the moment, and when you have such good partners like Agpex and Brookfield, I don't see any need to get into their business. So, you know, our plan at the moment is to work with partners. And, you know, I think, you know, as you know, this activity is being driven by Sanjay Shrestha. And Sanjay's been really working with folks to make sure we have rates which allows us to generate competitive green hydrogen.
Andy
Great, great. Exciting stuff. Thanks again. Okay. Thank you, Moses.
Operator
Thank you. We've reached the end of our question and answer session. I'll let you turn the floor back over to Andy for any further closing comments.
Item 1A
Well, thank you, everyone. Really enjoyed our discussion today. We're really pleased with the quarter. It's going to be another great fourth quarter and look forward to talking to many of you in the near future. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference. Jimmy, disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.
Disclaimer