FuelCell Energy, Inc. is a fuel cellpower company. It designs, manufactures, operates and services Direct Fuel Cellpower plants that run on natural gas and biogas. As the biggest publicly traded fuel cell manufacturer in the U.S., the company operates over 50 plants all over the world. It operates the world’s largest fuel cell park, Gyeonggi Green Energy Fuel cell park, which is located in South Korea. The park consists of 21 power plants providing 59 Megawatt of electricity plus district heating to a number of customers in South Korea. It also operates the largest fuel cell park in North Americaconsisting of five 2.8MW power plants and a rankine cycle turbine bottoming cycle in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The company has two markets including ultra-clean power, based on natural gas, and renewable power operating on renewable biogas. Its customer base covers commercial and industrial enterprises including utility companies, municipalities, universities, etc.
History
In 1969, the company was founded as Energy Research Corporation by early fuel cell pioneers Bernard Baker and Martin Klein, who are both chemical engineers with professional knowledge in advanced battery technologies. From 1970s to 1990s, having sponsorship from U.S. military and other utility companies, the company extended to low-temperature fuel cell area and high-temperature carbonate fuel systems, which proved to be more potential in commercial applications. It completed its IPO in 1992 and was renamed as FuelCell Energy, Inc. It spun off its battery division, Evercel in 1999. FuelCell Energy began expanding globally in 2007 through its partnership with POSCO Energy, targeting markets in Southeast Asia, particularly South Korea. In 2012, the company’s European facility was established with German-based FuelCell Energy Solutions, GmbH. In the same year, it completed joint venture with Fraunhofer IKTS and acquired Versa Power Systems, Inc. The company is involved in a joint venture with Toyota to develop a facility at Long Beach, California. The company has been tapped by the Office of Naval Research to provide assistance on the Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle program. The LDUUV is a large unmanned submersible with a planned 70 day plus endurance, this would allow the LDUUV to be based at a pier like a traditional submarine instead of requiring a dedicated launch and recovery platform.
