Fuel Cell Energy Is Mega-Watt Leader

• Kurt Goddard On Fuel Cell Technology

• By Scott Benjamin

A Connecticut company that jokingly refers to itself as “a 40-year start-up,” is now the world’s leader in mega-watt fuel cell installations.

Kurt Goddard, the vice president of investor relations for Fuel Cell Energy in Danbury, said the company began research into hydrogen energy in 1969 but didn’t have a plan for commercializing it until 2003.

The company vice president said a fuel cell combines hydrogen with oxygen which turns chemical energy into electric energy. Since it is not combustible, the fuel cells, which usually operate on natural gas or biogas, have hardly any pollutants.

Mr. Goddard said through generations people have been accustomed to central electric generation from a coal-fired, the dominant form, or nuclear power plants. He said that fuel cells offer the opportunity for distributive generation. Fuel Cell Energy monitors the facilities from its global center in Danbury and also does required maintenance.

He said in the United States from 2005 to 2012 the use of coal had declined and the utilization of natural gas has increased because of fracking procedures that have made it more plentiful and less expensive. He said that should help boost interest in fuel cell technology.

“The kilo-watt per hour costs has declined to the point where more utilities are seeking to use fuel cell technology to supplement their electric grid,” he added.

Our revenue is up, orders are up and costs per capita are declining,” Mr. Goddard said regarding Fuel Cell Energy, which has its administrative offices in Danbury and a manufacturing operation in Torrington that operates three shifts around the clock.

He said Fuel Cell Energy turned a profit for the first time in each of the last two years.

Since early 2012 it has grown from about 500 employees to 650 with further expansion expected in the near future. Mr. Goddard said Fuel Cell Energy currently can’t find enough engineers to work on its projects.

Fuel Cell Energy has installations in nine countries, including South Korea, its best market, where the company, for example, services 125,000 customers through the largest fuel cell facility in the world.

Mr. Goddard said the cost of natural gas in South Korea is about three times higher than in the United States, which has prompted that country to find a more efficient way of using that energy source.

He told students in a section of PS 104: World Governments, Economies and Cultures at Western Connecticut State University (WCSU) Mar. 13, 2014 that the recent installation of a 14.9 mega-watt facility in Bridgeport, the largest in North America, is providing electricity from the utility grid to 15,000 customers.

“We built it on about an acre and a half of land,” he said, noting that it would take about 55 acres to accommodate a solar energy facility with a similar capacity.

Company communications analyst Christina Bonina, who accompanied Mr. Goddard to the talk at WCSU, said just two years after earning her bachelor’s degree in Public Relations from Hofstra University on Long Island, she has been able to work in such additional areas as investor relations, marketing and sales since arriving at Fuel Cell Energy earlier this year.

U.S. Rep. John Larson (D-1) of East Hartford has said that fuel cell technology will become Connecticut’s biggest export.

He has said the state has eight companies doing research and development in the field, including Clear Edge Power in South Windsor.  Formerly known as UTC Power, the company became the granddaddy of fuel cell research as it utilized the technology in the NASA space program from 1966 to 2010.

“Legislators and regulators are concerned about: economic policy, energy policy and environmental policy,” Mr. Goddard said.  “We can meet all three of those criteria.”

Regarding transportation, the company vice president said fuel cell technology also has reached the point where there are fueling stations available in northern California, including one operated by Fuel Cell Energy, and Hyundai is leasing fuel cell cars for 2015 under two year contracts at $499 a month and Toyota is about to follow suit.

Barron’s reported in 2003 that fuel cell technology could make the internal combustion engine obsolete within 25 years.

“What has happened recently with the fuel cell cars is very encouraging because for the last 10 years it seemed that you would hear putting fuel cell cars on the roads was always two to three years out,” he said. “Now it’s happening.”