Commitments and Contingencies - Future minimum lease payments under non-cancelable operating leases and future minimum capital lease payments (Parenthetical) (Details 1)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2012
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]
Capital leases interest rate	9.90%

Represents capital leases, future minimum payments interest rate.

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	plug_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration