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ClearEdge Power, Inc. was a fuel cell manufacturer focusing on the stationary fuel cell. It was 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][5] The company's assets were purchased out of bankruptcy by Doosan Fuel Cell America, Inc.[6][7]
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Alternative energy |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Headquarters | South Windsor, Connecticut, USA 37.38201°N 122.00848°W |
Key people | Jeff Hyungrak Chung, President and CEO [1] |
| Products | Fuel cells |
| Parent | Doosan Group |
| Website | www |
ClearEdge Power, Inc. was founded in 2003 as Quantum Leap Technology by Ed Davis and[8][9] after Brett Vinsant and Ed Davis created the company's fuel cell in their garages in Hillsboro, Oregon.[10] In August 2005, Quantum Leap changed its name to ClearEdge Power.[9] In January 2006, they received a $2 million investment from a subsidiary of Applied Materials.[11] At that time the company built fuel cell systems to produce back-up power and for continuous power applications.[11] By May 2007, the company had grown to 20 employees and had raised $10 million in venture capital.[12] In early 2008, ClearEdge sold and installed its first fuel cell unit.[13]
ClearEdge received an additional $11 million in venture capital from Kohlberg Ventures LLC in January 2009.[14] On May 1, 2009, Russell Ford became the chief executive officer of the then 40-employee company,[15] with Slangerup joining the board of directors.[8]
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.[16] At that time the company had grown to 150 employees, and 95% of all capital raised came from Kohlberg Ventures.[8] ClearEdge raised a total of $29 million from Kohlberg in 2009 alone.[17] In November 2009, the company began to ship a five kilowatt fuel cell and had orders for 300 of the units by December 2009.[18][19] ClearEdge gained $11 million more in private financing in January 2010.[20][21]
In February 2010, a fuel cell was installed at a Hillsboro Fire Department station; local dignitaries included Congressman David Wu.[22] Wu’s district includes ClearEdge’s headquarters in Hillsboro, and Wu sponsored several bills that would provide tax credits for fuel cell customers.[22][23][24] 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.[23][25] Neither of Wu's bills made it out of committee.
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.[26][27] 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.[28] This was the first large contract for the company outside of its core California market.[26] The company planned to build 1,000 units in 2010, and double that in 2011.[10] 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.[29] 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.[30] In February 2013, ClearEdge closed on its acquisition of UTC Power.[31] The next month, the company reduced its workforce by 39%, with many layoffs coming at the former UTC unit.[32] Later that month the company announced it had raised another $36 million in capital.[33] In 2013, the company relocated its headquarters to Sunnyvale, California.[34] 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 out of bankruptcy by Doosan Fuel Cell America, Inc. for 32.4 million, plus debt.[6][7]
Doosan Fuel Cell America, Inc.'s headquarters are in South Windsor, Connecticut. The main product is a four hundred kilowatt fuel cell.
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.[18] The micro combined heat and power fuel cell have approximately 85% total fuel efficiency.[13][18] PEM fuel systems have an electric efficiency of about 60% .[24]
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