ClearEdge Power: Delivering Smart Energy Today

New Technology May Help Lower Local Energy Bills

ABC Channel 10 News, San Diego, California

Fuel Cell technology, in education and in action, was recently featured on the evening news for San Diego ABC affiliate Channel 10. Bill Sproull, Senior Vice President of New Business Development at ClearEdge Power, is interviewed just before taking the stage a workshop on Fuel Cell technology, hosted by the California Center for Sustainable Energy. Fuel Cells are already powering some local San Diego businesses, including the Sheraton Harbor Island Hotel & Marina. The Sheraton produces 70% of its power onsite with the fuel cell system installed onsite 5 years ago. The facility reportedly uses all of the produced heat for their domestic hot water needs, including needs for guest rooms, kitchen and the hotel pool.

Fueling The Future: Fuel Cells Show Promise

March 07, 2010, Onell R. Soto, San Diego Union Tribune

Fuel cells, which decades ago powered the moon mission, are quietly making their way into businesses and homes, and some see them as the future of power production.

Instead of burning fuel to make heat that then drives a turbine, fuel cells use an electrochemical reaction similar to that inside a battery to make electricity.

Proponents say today’s fuel cells produce more power from the same amount of fuel than the most efficient gas turbine, create fewer pollutants and give off heat that can prove useful.

“There isn’t another technology that can do this, produce power at this high efficiency at this low emissions at that small a scale,” said fuel-cell researcher Jack Brouwer.

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ENERGY: Homegrown Power, Cleaner Than That Mass-Produced Stuff

March 03, 2010, Eric Wolff, North County Times

A residential fuel cell produces electricity more efficiently and with less carbon dioxide than a utility gas turbine -- and no one in San Diego or Riverside counties has one.

It’s too new. The electricity-generation alternative didn’t exist on a scale practical for home users until 2009.

It’s so new that representatives from San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison said they have no residential fuel cell customers.

To introduce the device, which is about the size of a refrigerator and can power an entire home, the California Center for Sustainable Energy is holding two seminars next week to explain the costs and benefits of these high-tech generation units.

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ClearEdge Power Keeping Base In Oregon

February 2010, Fuel Cell Works

At ClearEdge Power, each of the firm’s fuel cell systems are made by hand, monitored at every step using advanced software technology more likely to be found in Silicon Valley than deep in the Hillsboro suburbs.

Oregon’s electricity rates are relatively low, which could limit the demand here for ClearEdge’s products, but the clean tech company has kept its headquarters in Oregon and is poised to grow.

When asked why ClearEdge has stayed in Oregon, when it could be in California, where the average electricity cost per kilowatt-hour is 14 cents (approximately 5 cents more than Oregon), Mike Upp, ClearEdge’s vice president of marketing, responded, “Why Oregon? Why not?”

ClearEdge’s systems, which use fuel cells to convert natural gas into electricity, were created by Oregonian Brett Vinsant in his garage in Hillsboro. ClearEdge Power was established in 2003, and then California investment firm Kohlberg Ventures purchased the company from Vinsant in 2006, The company started selling systems in 2009.

“When Jim Kohlberg bought the company, he saw access to ports to ship our technology, a good tax situation and smart people,” Upp said. “Can we find all of these things in a number of places? Yes. But why not Oregon? There’s no reason for us not to be here.”

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Congressman David Wu: Fuel Cells Working for Oregon

February 2010, Fuel Cell Works

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman David Wu joined Oregon clean energy leaders today to discuss the benefits that locally produced combined heat and power fuel cells are providing to our region’s economy.

Hillsboro’s Ronler Acres Fire Station is using a fuel cell manufactured less than a half mile away by ClearEdge Power to simultaneously reduce carbon emissions and operating costs, saving taxpayers money and helping protect our environment.

“Oregon is once again leading the way toward a more sustainable future,” said Congressman David Wu. “The next-generation design of fuel cell technology recently installed at Hillsboro’s fire station replaces an older fuel cell unit, keeping our first responders on the front lines of clean energy users.”

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CCSE Introduces Innovative Fuel Cells

February 2010, California Center for Sustainable Energy

One of the first clean-energy fuel cells for generating electricity and heat for large homes, businesses and institutions will be featured at two workshops at CCSE on Monday, March 8. A workshop for business owners will be held at from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m., and a workshop for homeowners will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Fuel cells have been widely used for self-generated energy in industry for many years, but scaling the technology to fit homes and smaller businesses has been a challenge, according to Ryan Amador, an energy program manager at CCSE. The workshop will focus on a five- kilowatt, refrigerator-sized fuel cell manufactured by ClearEdge Power, a Hillsboro, Oregon-based company.

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Rep. David Wu discusses fuel cells at Hillsboro fire station

February 18, 2010, By Bill Oram, The Oregonian

PORTLAND, OR – Rep. David Wu spent today touting fuel cell technology in Hillsboro.

He spoke at the Ronler Acres Fire Station, where fuel cells are used to reduce carbon emissions and costs. Wu, who recently introduced a bill in Congress that would increase the tax break for people who use fuel cells in their homes, was joined by leaders from ClearEdge Power, Bonneville Power Administration and the Hillsboro Fire Department.

“Fuel cells can provide families with both heat and power from a clean, efficient energy source,” Wu said in a release. “My legislation will help expand the use of this cutting-edge technology, in turn creating more jobs in our community.”

After the outdoor discussion, Wu was scheduled to tour the manufacturing plant of ClearEdge Power, which is located less than a mile from the station.

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