Advanced and Alternative Energy : Innovation + Job News

Energy Technologies is working to take its fuel cell technology from the laboratory to the battlefield. And the Mansfield-based company hopes to add a few jobs along the way.

Since 1992, the company has been producing portable power sources for the most rugged conditions, with Department of Defense as its most interested customer.

Now, the company has its sights set on fuel cell technology � a device that could be employed as a portable power plant at a temporary, military tactical facility.

"Our big claim to fame is that there is no platinum in our fuel cells, so our costs are way down," says Energy Technologies Vice President Tim Lowe. "This program (uses) technology that pulls out that noise and stink of a diesel engine and replaces them with fuel cells."

Lowe also touts the company's product as small, lightweight, low-cost and quiet � but it is the stack's smooth transition that separates Energy Technologies product apart from a run-of-the-mill generator at the hardware store.

The Ohio Third Frontier has taken notice. In the last three years, Energy Technologies has been awarded three $1-million grants for its work. Lowe says the company is making arrangements with the Department of Defense for field-testing. And he adds long-term goals include adding as many as 200 jobs to a current staff of 72.

More good news: The company also plans to continue to manufacture the mini-power plants at its Mansfield location. Lowe proudly points out that the company recently installed the hardware for welding the stacks.

"When Governor Strickland came here, he said this must be one of the better kept secrets in Ohio," Lowe recalls.

Source: Tim Lowe
Writer: Colin McEwen

Banking on a homegrown, high-tech solar cell system, Ohio's GreenField Solar Corp. is positioned for a fast-paced growth that kicked off this month with the grand opening of its new corporate headquarters in Oberlin.

GreenField, founded in 2008, is the convergence of two earlier companies: PhotoVolt and Greenfield Steam and Electric.

"We develop and manufacture the solar cells and the PV systems," said Mico Perales, GreenField Solar's director of business development.

The company also has facilities in North Ridgeville, Ohio, and at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The Oberlin location will serve as corporate HQ and the primary fabrication center.

Founder Bernie Sater, a former NASA Glenn Researcher Center scientist, invented the solar cell technology behind the company's StarGen Concentrated PV system. This heavy-duty, innovative system captures the sun's rays to produce electricity and thermal energy for high use customers including utilities and other large, commercial companies.

Among the company's clients are Duke Energy, American Electric Power, and the City of Lanier.

GreenField Solar aims to drive down the cost of its product and installation to make its technology affordable without using subsidies.
 
"In addition, the company seeks to leverage the experience and expertise of the state's Edison Centers," Perales said.

The company has 20 employees, but is planning big gains through increased commercialization of its product over the next five years.

"With the opening of our Oberlin facility, which includes laboratory and clean-room environments, we are taking a significant step towards hiring over 200 additional employees over the next five years within Ohio," said Jim Latham, GreenField Solar Director of Operations.

Those jobs will be in solar cell and system production, engineering, finance, sales and marketing.

Source: Mico Perales and Jim Latham, GreenField Solar
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

Adding next-generation wind production to Ohio's energy mix presents several technical problems, but one boils down to this: Getting to the best wind will take taller towers, and using steel structures to get there will add significant weight and transportation costs.

But what if we could make the towers on site using lighter-weight composites? A new $1-million Ohio Third Frontier grant is aimed at finding out.

Managing the project is Ershigs, a Bellingham, Wash.-based company with expertise in building composite structures on site and which has operations near Manchester, Ohio. Other partners include the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) and Edison Materials Technology Center in Dayton; Miamisburg-based WebCore, which makes engineered core materials for composite sandwich structures; Owens Corning's Columbus operations, which make an advanced, high-strength glass fiber; and Ashland Performance Materials in Dublin, which makes high-performance resins. A successful project could lead to new Ohio jobs, partners say.

UD, WebCore and Owens-Corning worked on an earlier Third Frontier project that looked at new markets for advanced materials in a variety of areas -- including windmill blades, says Brian Rice, Division Head for Multi-Scale Composites and Polymers at UDRI.

"And we also funded an engineering study to say does it make sense to make towers with composites . . . and we wanted to find out at what point does it make economic sense to switch from steel to composites."

Steve Hettick, a vice president of manufacturing for Ershigs, says the first year of the two-year grant period will be concerned primarily with "technical development and with materials testing validation." He said the team will perform extensive computer modeling and build sample laminates to first prove out the design. Eventually, the team's objective is to build and test a full-scale tower.

Sources: Brian Rice, UDRI and Steve Hettick, Ershigs
Writer: Gene Monteith

Quasar Energy Group is banking on the promise of alternative energies and an abundance of farm, food processing and other biomass that can be converted to electricity, gas and heat.

The Cleveland company is developing that potential at Ohio State University's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) in Wooster, where a bio-digester is currently supplying a third of the center's electricity needs. But the potential extends beyond the demonstration stage, Quasar says. Its commercial digester in Zanesville is nearing completion and the company plans to break ground on a Franklin County facility in spring or summer.

Digesters heat biomass like manure, crop waste, food waste, or fats and greases to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which allows bacteria to turn the mixture into methane. The gas can then be used as fuel to generate electricity -- which in turn can then be sold to the local power company or used on site -- for example, on a farm. Farmers can also use the processed biomass as clean animal bedding or fertilzer. While farmers aren't widely adopting the technology today, Ohio produces enough biomass to support at least 7,000 digesters large and small, says Clemens Halene, vice president of engineering.

The company had its beginnings three years ago when Schmack BioEnergy of Germany built a digester to help KB Compost Services process bio-solids generated at the Akron wastewater treatment plant. Later, Quasar spun off.

A recent $2-million Ohio Third Frontier grant is allowing Quasar and the OARDC to research and develop next generation technology and new possibilities, such as auto or home heating fuel. The company recently added five positions, giving it 20 employees. 

Sources: Clemens Halene and Caroline Henry, Quasar Energy Group
Writer: Gene Monteith

Arising from expertise within the glass industry and the abundance of cheap natural gas needed to melt silica for solar modules, the Toledo area has long been recognized for incubating advanced and alternative energy players.

In the thick of things has been the University of Toledo. So, it's only fitting that when it came time for the State of Ohio to establish a new Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization (PVIC), UT was a logical choice.

PVIC was founded in January 2007 with $18.6 million in Ohio Third Frontier funding and matching contributions of $30 million from federal agencies and university and industrial partners. The center -- which also has hubs Ohio State University, and Bowling Green State University -- has become a state of the art laboratory with three purposes, says Robert Collins, professor of physics and co-director of the PVIC: to help new companies commercialize their products, to help existing companies improve their products and expand product lines, and to build a large solar cluster in northwest Ohio.

The PVIC serves as both a testing ground for new applications and a resource for commercialization of those techniques. The center is now working with 30 companies from around the country -- including a start-up from Silicon Valley, Collins says.

The center has led the way in development of new thin-film technologies that can be produced more quickly and less expensively than traditional solar films. Meanwhile, UT is working on next-generation films using nanostructures, recently hiring two experts from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to lead the work.

Source: Robert Collins, University of Toledo
Writer: Gene Monteith

Parker Hannifin is known worldwide for manufacturing valves, fittings, hoses and dozens of other products.

The Cleveland-based company can now add another product to its catalog. Sometime this year, the company is expected to launch its line of high-speed brakes for wind turbines, similar to those used in helicopters.

Although the company is already well established � with more than 50,000 employees (4,000 in Ohio) and a 90-year history � Parker Hannifin is getting some serious support for this new economy project.

The company was awarded $1 million for the Ohio Wind Turbine Brake Commercialization project from the state's Third Frontier initiative and is working with other agencies, including Case Western Reserve University.

Spokesman Aidan Gormley says as many as 40 high-paying technology-based jobs will be added over the next six years, thanks to the company's new line.

The company is modeling the wind turbine technology off of its current helicopter brake experience. The part will be manufactured at its Aircraft Wheel and Brake Division in Avon � one of 30 Parker plants in Ohio.

"This is simply an adaptation and integration of our existing technology capabilities into solutions for a new and rapidly expanding market." Gormley says, adding that the company is moving toward the development of more energy efficient technologies � including geothermal, ocean energy, fuel cell, solar and hydropower applications.

"Parker believes that Ohio has a tremendous opportunity to grow its economy by building on the strengths of its existing business base in advanced energy technologies."

Source: Aidan Gormley, Parker Hannifin
Writer: Colin McEwen

Ohio isn't well known for its abundance of sunshine. And that's just fine for Replex Plastics.

The Mount Vernon-based supplier of domes and mirrors is working to commercialize solar components that utilize mirrors onto photovoltaic cells in areas that don't have optimal solar conditions. Places like Ohio.

The company � founded in 1991 � got its start manufacturing optical domes and mirrors. For the last two years, Replex has been tinkering with mirrors that collect solar energy. And in another two years, the company expects to have a product ready for commercialization.

Replex President Mark Schuetz says the technology could be deployed even on cloudy days using "the diffuse part of the sunlight." That's something not many companies can claim.

"We've been making mirrors for almost 20 years. We're trying to adapt to solar applications," Schuetz says. "This is a major leap for us."
The company was awarded a $1.2 million grant from the Ohio Third Frontier Photovoltaic Program for its innovative work. The goal is to reduce the cost of solar power by reducing the cost per watt of the most expensive component � the photovoltaic cells. Replex has collaborated the University of Toledo, the Ohio State University and Dovetail Solar and Wind for research, testing and evaluation.

In 2009, the recession hit Replex hard, whittling the staff to 17 from 25. But Schuetz says the company will most likely gain those positions back this year. There are plans to manufacture the modules in the Mount Vernon facility � adding as many as 500 jobs, Schuetz adds.

"We really think renewable energy is here to stay � and its only going to get bigger," he says. "And we want to be a part of that."

Source: Mark Schuetz, Replex Plastics
Writer: Colin McEwen

Novolyte Technologies blew the candles out a little early to mark its first year in business, but the eagerness could be well understood: There was plenty to celebrate.

The manufacturer of products such as lithium battery electrolytes hired five people in Ohio (14 worldwide) in its first year, added $561,000 to the local payroll and plans to invest $750,000 at its Independence headquarters in 2010.

Spun off of from the chemical division of Ferro Corp., Novolyte consists of two business platforms: energy storage products (battery materials) and performance materials, says CEO Edward Frindt.

Among the uses for the performance materials are solvents and other specialty materials for pharmaceuticals, agricultural, coatings, inks and gas scrubbing. Frindt is also excited about the company's new green product line.

Those products are shaped at the Independence location, which doubles as a headquarters and a research/development facility.

Novolyte was awarded a $20.6-million grant from the Department of Energy and a $1.2-million Ohio Third Frontier Grant for the company's work on the "electrification of the auto industry."

"The company built its reputation on quality and service through custom manufacturing and established a loyal customer base by consistently meeting specific technical requirements," Frindt says.

Novolyte employes about 165 people, with 24 people in Independence, 90 at its Baton Rouge, La., facility and about another 50 at the company's plant in China.

"We have added 14 jobs in 2009, five in Ohio, during one of the worst recessions in several generations as we have continued to fund our growth plans," Frindt says.

Source: Edward Frindt, Novolyte
Writer: Colin McEwen

FirstEnergy has taken a 92-acre first step toward developing a massive natural gas and compressed-air power plant near Akron.

But this certainly isn't your mother's power plant. The recently purchased site in Norton would employ technology that compresses air through a turbine when demand is low at night, and release it during the day when demand is at its highest. And it could prove to be capable of producing as much electricity as three nuclear reactors.

FirstEnergy also bought the rights to a 600-acre abandoned underground limestone mine. FirstEnergy spokeswoman Ellen Raines says the high-tech system could be combined with renewable energy technologies.

"The wind blows when the wind blows and the sun shines when the sun shines," Raines says. "If you can combine those intermittent energies with storage, the storage acts like a large battery."

There are only other two such facilities in the world � one in Alabama and the other in Germany. But Raines says with the potential to produce as much as 2,700 megawatts, the mine in Norton would be much larger. To put that in perspective, one megawatt serves approximately 600 homes.

Raines says there is no timetable set when the plant would become operational. Nor is there a firm figure of jobs the mine would create.

"This has enormous potential down the road," she says. "People have looked at this Norton mine for decades to see how it could be used. We're just very happy to have purchased these rights to take advantage of this when the time is right."

Source: Ellen Raines, FirstEnergy
Writer: Colin McEwen

Words like "milking" and "feedlot" might be most commonly associated with a cow pasture. But for Highland Heights-based Phycal, something else comes to mind: Algae.

The burgeoning bio-tech company is developing a production system for growing algae and extracting its energy � converting its oil to biodiesel. That finished product can be used as drop-in replacements to diesel, jet-fuel and other energy products.

Phycal's extraction process, Olexal, continuously milks oil from algae without dewatering and recycles the living algae back to ponds, says Jeffrey Bargiel, Phycal's business development specialist. "We call it milking because we milk the cow rather than killing it," he says.

That variety of innovation has drawn lots of attention. The Wall Street Journal called 2009 "The Year of Algae." Both Crain's and Business Week featured the up-and-coming Phycal. "We've been laying low," Bargiel says. "We can't keep ourselves hidden any longer."

Phycal has a research facility in St. Louis, and plans for pilot facility in Hawaii. There are about 25 positions at the company's Ohio location (where there are two 40-foot ponds for research and development), but the workforce continues to grow.

And so does the algae.

Source: Jeffrey Bargiel
Writer: Colin McEwen

Electricity in places like Appalachia and the deserts of the Middle East can be somewhat scarce. But with a little help from Cleveland-based Technology Management Inc., those places could be led from the dark.

"What would your life by like without 24/7 electricity � 24/7 availability?" asks TMI CEO/President Benson Lee, who is also the founder. "There are many people who know what that's like."

TMI has been developing modular, solid-oxide fuel-cell systems since 1990, but the company isn't satisfied with simply using natural gas as its fuel. The company employs a chemical process converting "ordinary" fuel into electricity, using what's available in a specific area. In Ohio, soybeans and corn are choice.

There are only a handful of companies in the world using "ordinary" fuel-cell systems. "We are the only ones in the world with Ohio in the address," Lee says.

Companies like Lockheed Martin have taken notice. So have other big supporters, including the U.S. Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Department of Agriculture and the EPA.

"Having someone in the bleachers always helps," Lee says. "The typical technology company starts by pushing, and eventually the market starts getting it. We think we're seeing that happen now with fuel cells."

The portably designed device could be parachuted into places like the front lines of the Middle East. "If we can use it in Afghanistan, we can use it in places like Appalachia."

Currently, there are 14 people employed with TMI. "We decided to be the nimble, fast-moving entrepreneurial group."

Source: Benson Lee
Writer: Colin McEwen

Juice Technologies is helping the University of Toledo "go green." But that project -- an effort to audit and upgrade the campus's energy infrastructure -- is only a fraction of what the company believes awaits it within an evolving automotive and electric utility industry.

At the University of Toledo, Juice Technologies is helping the campus both with an extensive energy audit and in managing the evolution of the institution as one that will, in the future, leave no "carbon footprint."

Rich Housh, Juice's president and CEO, says that project is paying the start-up's bills for now. But he sees a future in which his company is also leader in management of plug-in vehicle charging and energy management technologies that tie into utility "smart-grid" infrastructures.

Developed under the Plug Smart brand, products include the Plug Smart Pal and Plug Smart Solo, cordset devices that can be carried in a car's trunk to allow charging anywhere. Both collect, store, report and calculate emission statistics that can be viewed at a Plug Smart-hosted website. The technology is expected to be in the marketplace sometime next year. Meanwhile, the company is advancing charging station technology that can communicate directly with a utility company to authenticate the vehicle and owner as well as information needed to bill the owner through his or her home utility bill.

The 12-person, Columbus-based company -- which appropriately shares a location with the Ohio State University Center for Automotive Research -- is also developing prototypes of a networkable energy management system to let homes and businesses tie into a utility company's advanced meter infrastructure using a web server to view energy statistics, configure their own energy strategies, and control their usage.

Source: Rich Housh, Juice Technologies
Writer: Gene Monteith

Catacel Corp. exists because William Whittenberger and two colleagues didn't want to move to Alabama.

Based in Garrettsville, Catacel -- an innovator in the fuel cell, hydrogen, gas-to-liquid, petrochemical and aerospace industries -- is the offspring of Camet, a Hiram-based company that made its name developing and manufacturing emission control products made from coated metal foils.

Camet was purchased by W.R. Grace in 1993, and then by Engelhard in 1998. Then, in 2000, the decision was made to move most of Camet to Alabama.

"A few of us said we didn't want to move to Alabama," says Whittenberger, Catacel's president. "The team was here. We knew all about the metal foil business, and we said what shall we do?"

The answer was to establish Catacel. Now the three are using what they knew about metal foils and catalytic coatings to supply crucial materials for hydrogen fuel cells, heat-exchange systems and industrial hydrogen production.

The company ended fiscal 2009 with an 86 percent growth in employment, a 50-percent increase in work space and a 72-percent increase in revenues. Commercial sales for Catacel increased from $900,000 in 2008 to just under $2 million this year.

Along the way, Catacel has benefited from nearly $5 million in Ohio Third Frontier grants, a recent $250,000 investment commitment by JumpStart Inc., and its own investments of more than $2 million.

The company employs 20 "but we're getting ready to hire more," Whittenberger says.

Source: William Whittenberger, Catacel
Writer: Gene Monteith

Since its formation in 1994, NexTech Materials has grown from zero employees to 35. Along the way, it has gained attention for both its leadership team and its innovative products.

But the real growth is coming, says William Dawson, NexTech's chief executive officer.

NexTech, based in Lewis Center, does business in 35 countries and offers more than 100 products, mostly related to ceramic materials used in solid oxide fuel cells. The company is working with a number of partners in development of new products -- but much depends on the adoption of fuel cell technology in the U.S. to power vehicles and buildings, Dawson says.

"There's a lot more going on outside of the United States due to government incentives," Dawson says. "Korea provides an 80 percent subsidy for (homeowner purchases of) fuel cells. Japan has thousands of units going into homes right now."

While a number of stationary power demonstration units exist in the United States, widespread use here is in the future, Dawson says. Yet, the advantages are clear, both for stationary units and mobile units used in military applications or to power vehicles, he says.

"They have very high efficiency, they don't create pollution, and because of their high efficiency the greenhouse effect is reduced more than 50 percent."

While NexTech continues building inroads into the fuel cell business, it is also forging ahead with production of a number of sensors used to detect the presence of gases in the surrounding air.

"We just started offering hydrogen safety sensors (to detect hydrogen in the air), and are working on emissions sensors that we hope will be coming to the marketplace in two to three years," says Dawson.

Source: William Dawson, NexTech
Writer: Gene Monteith

About 80 acres of earth is being moved to make way for a farm in Wyandot County for a new brand of cash crop: clean, renewable solar energy.

When completed sometime in mid-2010, the $30 million project � adjacent to the Wyandot County Airport � is expected to be one of the largest solar fields east of the Mississippi.

American Electric Power recently inked a 20-year agreement with Wyandot Solar to purchase electricity generated at the 10.08 megawatt farm.

The project counts a few big players. Wyandot Solar, a subsidiary of Germany-based juwi solar will fund construction of the project, including more than needed160,000 solar panels, which will be built by First Solar's nearby Perrysburg operations.

Shelly Clark, a spokesperson at AEP, says excavating for the project is already underway.

"AEP Ohio was heading in the direction of clean energy," she says. "It will help us to continue our growth and to meet our mandates from the state of Ohio."

A major impetus: Last year, the Ohio legislature passed a bill requiring 25 percent of Ohio's energy to come from alternative and renewable sources.

"(We're) working towards the goal of producing electricity where it can be most efficiently produced and moving it to where it is needed the most," Clark says, adding that 1,500 nearby homes and businesses will be the first recipients of the energy.

Using labor from the surrounding area, about 70 construction jobs were created to complete the project. Three permanent positions are expected when the job is done.

Source: Shelly Clark, American Electric Power
Writer: Colin McEwen