Nature of Business and Basis of Presentation (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Oct. 31, 2014		Oct. 31, 2013		Oct. 31, 2012	Oct. 31, 2009	Jun. 25, 2013	Dec. 20, 2012
Restricted Cash and Cash Equivalents	$ 25,100,000		$ 10,000,000
Letters of Credit Outstanding, Amount	7,400,000		7,700,000
Accrued Contract and Operating Costs	34,000		87,000
Product Warranty Accrual	1,156,000	[1]	860,000	[1]
Reserve for Performance Guarantees	800,000		500,000
Loss Reserve on Service Agreements	3,000,000		3,700,000
Long-term stack residual value	2,725,000	[2]	2,898,000	[2]
Reserve for Repair and Upgrade Program	0	[3]	7,267,000	[3]
Future License Fees To Be Paid	8,000,000
Royalty percentage	4.10%					4.10%
Reduced royalty percentage	3.00%
Royalty fee payment for reduction in royalty rate			6,700,000
License Fee and Royalty Income	0		0		1,599,000
Convertible Debt	0		38,000,000				38,000,000
significant customer revenue percentage	88.00%		88.00%		83.00%
Foreign Currency Transaction Gain (Loss), Unrealized	600,000		400,000		100,000
Restricted cash and cash equivalents - short-term	5,523,000		5,053,000
Restricted cash and cash equivalents - long-term	19,600,000		4,950,000
Cell Technology Transfer Agreement [Member]
Upfront License Fee						10,000,000
Stack Technology Transfer and License Agreement [Member]
Upfront License Fee			7,000,000			10,000,000
Service and License Fee Revenues [Member]
License Fee and Royalty Income	4,300,000		4,100,000
FCES Germany [Member]
Noncontrolling Interest, Ownership Percentage by Parent	86.00%
Alliance Entities [Member]
Noncontrolling Interest, Ownership Percentage by Parent	80.00%
POSCO Energy [Member]
significant customer revenue percentage	69.00%		54.00%		76.00%
Common stock ownership percentage	11.00%
United Illuminating [Member]
significant customer revenue percentage	9.00%		0.00%		0.00%
Department of Energy [Member]
significant customer revenue percentage	4.00%		5.00%		7.00%
NRG Energy [Member]
significant customer revenue percentage	3.00%		0.00%		0.00%
Common stock ownership percentage	6.00%
Dominion Bridgeport FuelCell Park [Member]
significant customer revenue percentage	3.00%		29.00%		0.00%
Restricted cash and cash equivalents - long-term	$ 15,000,000
Versa [Member]
Business Combination, Step Acquisition, Equity Interest in Acquiree, Percentage								39.00%
Business Acquisition, Percentage of Voting Interests Acquired								61.00%

[1] Activity in the accrued product warranty costs during the year ended October 31, 2014 and 2013 included additions for estimates of potential future warranty obligations of $2.4 million and $1.2 million, respectively, on contracts in the warranty period and reductions related to actual warranty spend of $1.2 million and $0.3 million, respectively, as contracts progress through the warranty period or are beyond the warranty period.

[2] Relates to expected residual value for module exchanges performed under the Company's service agreements where the useful life extends beyond the contractual term of the service agreement and the Company obtains title for the module from the customer upon expiration or non-renewal of the service agreement. If the Company does not obtain rights to title from the customer, the cost of the module is expensed at the time of the module exchange.

[3] The balance of the accrual at October 31, 2013 related to three replacement modules due to POSCO Energy, which were delivered in the first quarter of 2014.