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Fuel cell industry has a firm foothold in Ohio

UltraCell’s Vandalia manufacturing plant helps lead the charge

Processor Technician Ethel Daniels builds parts for Ultracell's hand held power generators used by the Department of Defense and manufactured in Vandalia.

Ty Greenlees/Ty Greenlees Processor Technician Ethel Daniels builds parts for Ultracell's hand held power generators used by the Department of Defense and manufactured in Vandalia.

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By John Nolan, Staff Writer Updated 1:48 AM Sunday, May 2, 2010

Ohio’s business development strategy for the fuel cell industry and its suppliers puts the state among the top five nationally for attention to the industry and the jobs it can bring, according to Fuel Cells 2000, an organization that promotes fuel cell technology.

Ohio joins California, Connecticut, New York and South Carolina as the most accommodating states for fuel cell development, the organization said in a report released last week.

Keith Scott, whose California-based company UltraCell Corp. came to Dayton in 2007 to establish a fuel cell manufacturing plant, said he wasn’t surprised by Ohio’s prominent ranking.

“I don’t really know any states that are doing a better job than Ohio,” said Scott, UltraCell’s chief executive officer.

The company’s plant at Dayton International Airport is making fuel cells for Air Force and Army personnel use in the battlefield as portable power sources that can be carried in backpacks. UltraCell is eyeing other markets including laptop computers, surveillance systems, portable communication devices and power sources for emergency response personnel.

UltraCell’s transition has been made easier by research and development support from the University of Dayton Research Institute, Edison Materials Technology Center in Kettering, Edison Welding Institute and Miamisburg-based Mound Technical Solutions Inc., provider of fuel cell test systems, Scott said.

Ohio, capitalizing on its manufacturing tradition, began a focused effort in 2002 to attract fuel cell companies, said Mike McKay, manager of the technology business assistance office in the Ohio Department of Development. The state’s investment in the fuel cell industry since then is more than $85 million, including $75 million from the state’s technology-supporting Third Frontier program, McKay said.

The Third Frontier support has been a major factor in developing the fuel cell industry in Ohio, said Ned Hill, an economic development authority who is dean of Cleveland State University’s college of urban affairs.

Third Frontier requires that company and university research teams collaborate to apply for technology development funding. That encourages regional clusters of technology expertise to support getting new products to market, McKay said.

Among the state’s fuel cell highlights:

• Stark State College of Technology, in North Canton, is home to a fuel cell prototyping center. Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems took advantage of that facility to locate its North American business headquarters there in 2006.

• Crown Equipment Corp., New Bremen, is receiving state support to develop fuel cells suitable for powering Crown’s industrial lift trucks.

The number of fuel cell companies in Ohio increased by 75 percent from 2004 to 2008, McKay said.

About fuel cells

They are electrochemical devices that combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, with water and heat as the byproducts. As long as fuel is supplied, the fuel cell will continue to generate power.

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