Hartford Business Journal

20 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | MARCH 23, 2026 FOCUS | MANUFACTURING FuelCell Energy CEO Jason Few said more than 80% of the company's proposal pipeline now comes from data centers as it shifts its focus to powering AI facilities. Contributed Photo All In FuelCell Energy bets on AI data centers with hopes of expanding Torrington manufacturing plant this level of demand. That is the reality," Zhou said. "How do we meet the rapid growth in electricity demand coming from data centers? It requires more distributed generation and producing power on-site." Zhou, a chemical and biomolecular engineering professor who also serves as special adviser on sustainability to UConn President Radenka Maric, said demand could accelerate further as 6G wireless technology approaches, which is expected to require roughly 10 times more power than current 5G networks. Focused R&D spend FuelCell Energy recently unveiled a new product designed for data center developers that bundles multiple fuel cell units into a 12.5-megawatt system — enough to power a small- to medi- um-sized data center. The company says its technology offers several advantages for data center operators. Because fuel cells have no combustion or moving parts, they operate quietly and may face fewer permitting hurdles than conventional generators. FuelCell also says its systems produce electricity in the format data centers use internally. Meanwhile, heat generated by the system can be captured and reused to help cool the facility — a major energy expense for data centers, which can devote 20% to 30% of their electricity use to cooling. FuelCell Energy's data center focus marks a sharp turn from just two years ago. In early 2023, Few told the Hartford Business Journal the company was aggressively hiring and pivoting toward hydrogen-powered fuel cell technology — a cleaner but then- emerging alternative to the company's established natural gas-based systems. That bet has been scaled back as the company recovers from recent financial struggles. Research and development spending fell by $4.1 million year over year in the most recent quarter, largely due to reduced investment in hydro- gen-powered technology. The company also cut about 17% of its global work- force in late 2024, and announced an additional 22% reduction in mid-2025, leaving roughly 426 employees. Few said the company has not aban- doned hydrogen-backed technology entirely, but its priorities have narrowed. "What's different is our focus," Few said. "We had a much broader mandate for R&D previously. Today, our R&D is very focused on our existing platform and how we continue to drive improvement." The company's core technology is the molten carbonate fuel cell — a high-temperature system that gener- ates electricity through a chemical reaction rather than combustion. FuelCell manufactures the systems in Torrington and has deployed them in the U.S., South Korea and other markets for decades. The Torrington facility is currently producing about 41 megawatts of power systems annually — less than half of its 100-megawatt capacity. But Few said during the company's recent earnings call that demand from data centers could change that quickly. The company has outlined plans By Andrew Larson alarson@hartfordbusiness.com D anbury-based FuelCell Energy is betting its next chapter on the artificial intelligence boom, shifting its commercial focus almost entirely toward powering data centers while scaling back investment in the hydrogen-based technology it touted two years ago as the future of clean power. The pivot is still in the pipeline stage, but if demand materializes it could lead to an expansion of the company's Torrington manufacturing facility, which is currently operating at less than half capacity, CEO Jason Few said in a recent interview with the Hartford Business Journal. FuelCell Energy, which has long struggled to reach profitability, has not yet signed a data center customer, but the company reported this month that more than 80% of its proposal pipeline — totaling more than 1.5 gigawatts in the first fiscal quarter — now comes from data centers. The company said its business development pipeline has grown 275% since February 2025, with nearly all the increase driven by data center customers. Fuel cells generate electricity through a chemical reaction rather than combustion. They run on natural gas or other fuels and produce power on-site without relying on the electric grid, which is already strained. For data centers, Few said fuel cells offer a practical solution as utilities cannot add generation capacity fast enough to meet rising demand. Policy- makers are also beginning to require new data centers to secure dedicated power generation. "The challenge facing data centers today isn't just how much power they need — it's how quickly they can get it," Few said. The International Energy Agency projects global data center electricity demand will roughly double to 945 terawatt-hours by 2030, driven largely by artificial intelligence. Xiao-Dong Zhou, director of the Center for Clean Energy Engi- neering at the University of Connecticut, said the nation's electrical grid was not designed for this kind of surge. The grid matured in the 1950s, he said, when no one could have anticipated the scale of demand that data centers are now creating. "Our current grid is not built to handle Xiao-Dong Zhou FuelCell Energy could face $2.1M penalty over jobs shortfall FuelCell Energy's Torrington operations are under review by state officials stemming from an earlier economic development deal. In 2015, FuelCell Energy received a $10 million low-interest loan from the state Department of Economic and Community Development to support its Torrington facility. The agreement required the company to maintain at least 538 full-time jobs in the state. The company has since fallen short of that threshold, potentially exposing it to a $2.1 million penalty under the terms of the deal. DECD spokesman Jim Watson said the state has not yet conducted the required employment audit to determine whether the penalty will be enforced. FuelCell Energy CEO Jason Few said the company is discussing with the state a proposed expansion as a potential path to meet job growth goals.

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