Danbury Alt Fuel Maker Wins $8M Gov't Funding

DANBURY, CT — The U.S. Department of Energy has announced that local alternative fuel manufacturer FuelCell Energy, Inc. has been awarded $8 million in funding to develop hydrogen-producing technology for use in the nuclear energy industry.

The project will be built upon the company's established solid oxide power generation system.

Following the design, manufacture and testing of the system at FuelCell Energy's Danbury facility, the electrolysis system will be delivered to Idaho National Laboratories, where it will undergo testing to confirm the electric efficiency, as well as the ability to utilize nuclear power plant waste heat to obtain higher efficiencies of up to 100 percent.

"This highly efficient electrolysis platform is expected to provide much needed flexibility to baseload nuclear power generation," the company said in a news release.

The funding package from the DOE was one of three awarded to advanced nuclear technology development companies meant to show the federal government's "commitment to accelerating U.S. advanced nuclear technology via private-public partnerships."

The company's stock (NASDAQ:FCEL) moved up 6.3 percent pre-market when news of the government funding award was released early Friday. It had jumped another 10 percent higher in Thursday's trade after J.P. Morgan envisioned the company's backlog of projects sparking a "pivot to profitability."