Nature of Business and Basis of Presentation (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands			12 Months Ended
		Dec. 03, 2015	Oct. 31, 2016	Oct. 31, 2015	Oct. 31, 2014
Extended Product Warranty Description			We warranty our products for a specific period of time against manufacturing or performance defects. Our U.S. warranty is limited to a term generally 15 months after shipment or 12 months after acceptance of our products, except for fuel cell kits. We have agreed to warranty fuel cell kits and components for 21 months from the date of shipment due to the additional shipping and customer manufacture time required.
project assets current and noncurrent			$ 47,111	$ 12,182
Restricted Cash and Cash Equivalents			34,100	26,900
Letters of Credit Outstanding, Amount			$ 7,900	8,700
Letter of Credit Date of Expiration			Apr. 01, 2019
Product Warranty Accrual	[1]		$ 516	964
Reserve for Performance Guarantees			3,300	2,600
Loss reserve on service agreements			2,700	800
Long-term stack residual value	[2]		0	$ 2,509
Future License Fees To Be Paid			$ 18,000
Reduced royalty percentage			3.00%
significant customer revenue percentage			78.00%	89.00%	85.00%
Common stock ownership percentage			4.99%
Foreign Currency Transaction Gain (Loss), Unrealized			$ 300	$ 1,700	$ 600
Restricted cash and cash equivalents - long-term			24,692	20,600
Customer Advances, Current			$ 5,300	$ 9,600
Common Stock, Shares, Outstanding			35,174,424	25,964,710
Common Stock, Shares Authorized			75,000,000	39,583,333
Reverse Split [Member]
Stockholders' Equity, Reverse Stock Split		1-for-12
Common stock, shares outstanding prior to reverse split		314,500,000
Common Stock, Shares, Outstanding		26,200,000
Stack Technology Transfer and License Agreement [Member]
Upfront License Fee			$ 7,000
Service and License Fee Revenues [Member]
License Fee and Royalty Income			$ 6,200	$ 3,900	$ 4,300
POSCO Energy [Member]
significant customer revenue percentage			48.00%	67.00%	69.00%
Common stock ownership percentage			7.00%
United Illuminating [Member]
significant customer revenue percentage			10.00%	14.00%	9.00%
Department of Energy [Member]
significant customer revenue percentage			8.00%	5.00%	4.00%
NRG Energy [Member]
Common stock ownership percentage			4.00%
Dominion Bridgeport FuelCell Park [Member]
significant customer revenue percentage			6.00%	3.00%	3.00%
Restricted cash and cash equivalents - long-term				$ 15,000
BioFuels [Member]
significant customer revenue percentage			6.00%	0.00%	0.00%
POSCO Energy [Member]
license agreement term			15 years
Maximum [Member] | Reverse Split [Member]
Common Stock, Shares Authorized		475,000,000
Minimum [Member] | Reverse Split [Member]
Common Stock, Shares Authorized		39,600,000

[1] Activity in the accrued product warranty costs during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2016 and 2015 included additions for estimates of potential future warranty obligations of $0.3 million and $0.6 million, respectively, on contracts in the warranty period and reductions related to actual warranty spend of $0.7 million and $0.8 million, respectively, as contracts progress through the warranty period or are beyond the warranty period.

[2] Relates to estimated 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 full cost of the module is expensed at the time of the module exchange. The decrease from October 31, 2015 represents the residual value being recognized as cost of service agreements due to contract term extensions.