Doosan Fuel Cell America

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Doosan Fuel Cell
Subsidiary
Industry Alternative energy
Founded 2003
Headquarters South Windsor, Connecticut, USA (HQ)
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Key people
 Jeff Hyungrak Chung, President and CEO [1]
Products Fuel cells
Number of employees
 200+ (2011)
Parent Doosan Group
Website www.doosanfuelcell.com

Doosan Fuel Cell America (formerly ClearEdge Power, Inc.) is a fuel cell manufacturer focusing on the stationary fuel cell. It is headquartered in South Windsor, Connecticut, U.S. The company employed 225 people as of August 2011.[2] It closed its operations in Connecticut in April 2014,[3] and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2014.[4] The company has been merged with Fuel Cell Power[5] under a new name Doosan Fuel Cell .[6]

History

The company was founded in 2003 as Quantum Leap Technology[7][8] after Brett Vinsant created the company's fuel cell in his garage in Hillsboro, Oregon.[9] In August 2005, Quantum Leap changed its name to ClearEdge Power.[8] In January 2006, they received a $2 million investment from a subsidiary of Applied Materials.[10] At that time the company built fuel cell systems to produce back-up power and for continuous power applications.[10] By May 2007, the company had grown to 20 employees and had raised $10 million in venture capital.[11] In early 2008, ClearEdge sold and installed its first fuel cell unit.[12]

ClearEdge received an additional $11 million in venture capital from Kohlberg Ventures LLC in January 2009.[13] On May 1, 2009, Russell Ford became the chief executive officer of the then 40-employee company,[14] with Slangerup joining the board of directors.[7]

The company expanded the 55,000-square-foot (5,100 m2) headquarters to 80,000 square feet (7,400 m2) in December 2009 after receiving an additional $15 million in venture capital from Kohlberg Ventures.[15] At that time the company had grown to 150 employees, and 95% of all capital raised came from Kohlberg Ventures.[7] ClearEdge raised a total of $29 million from Kohlberg in 2009 alone.[16] In November 2009, the company began to ship a five kilowatt fuel cell and had orders for 300 of the units by December 2009.[17][18] ClearEdge gained $11 million more in private financing in January 2010.[19][20]

In February 2010, a fuel cell was installed at a Hillsboro Fire Department station; local dignitaries included Congressman David Wu.[21] Wu’s district includes ClearEdge’s headquarters in Hillsboro, and Wu has sponsored several bills that would provide tax credits for fuel cell customers.[21][22][23] ClearEdge backed one of the bills, which would increase the federal tax credit for installing a fuel cell at a residence to be same as for businesses.[22][24] Neither of Wu’s bills has made it out of committee.

ClearEdge Power logo

ClearEdge signed a $40 million deal in June 2010 to supply 800 fuel cells to Korean based LS Industrial Systems over a three-year period.[25][26] LS Industrial Systems would sell the ClearEdge5 units in Korea, which had recently required 10 percent of power on new construction come from renewable power.[27] This was the first large contract for the company outside of its core California market.[25] The company planned to build 1,000 units in 2010, and double that in 2011.[9] ClearEdge was awarded a $2.8 million federal Department of Energy grant that would allow them to provide 38 fuel cells to ten different organizations including a grocery store and community college.[28] They raised $73.5 million in private equity funding in August 2011 to help expand sales to Europe and South Korea.[2]

In December 2012, ClearEdge reached an agreement with United Technologies Corp. to buy its fuel cell business, UTC Power.[29] In February 2013, ClearEdge closed on its acquisition of UTC Power.[30] The next month, the company reduced its workforce by 39%, with many layoffs coming at the former UTC unit.[31] Later that month the company announced it had raised another $36 million in capital.[32] In 2013, the company relocated its headquarters to Sunnyvale, California.[33] The former UTC unit in Connecticut was then closed without warning in April 2014 as the company weighed filing for bankruptcy protection.[3]

In July 2014, ClearEdge was purchased by South Korean conglomerate Doosan Group for 32.4 million, plus debt.[34]

Operations

Doosan Fuel Cell's headquarters are in South Windsor, Connecticut. The main product is a four hundred kilowatt fuel cell.

The technology is based on silicon and operates at 320 °F (160 °C).[8][12]

The fuel cell is powered by natural gas which a membrane breaks down into water, heat, carbon dioxide (CO2), and hydrogen, with the latter passing through a second membrane where electricity is generated.[17] CO2 and water are the only waste produced. The micro combined heat and power fuel cell have approximately 85% total fuel efficiency.[12][17] PEM fuel systems have an electric efficiency of about 30% .[23]


See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Fuel Cell Power
  6. ↑ Doosan $32.4 million U.S. deal marks second fuel cell buy
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/21/us-doosan-clearedge-idUSKBN0FQ03B20140721 Doosan Reuters

External links

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