Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | MARCH 23, 2026 21 MANUFACTURING | FOCUS CONSTRUCTING EXCELLENCE PDS ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION, INC 107 Old Windsor Road Bloomfield, CT 06002 860.242.8586 | pdsec.com NORTHEAST WINE, SOUTHINGTON, CT Focus On: Food & Beverage Northeast Wine, Southington, CT PDS was selected as Design Build General Contractor to build a new 20,000 square foot building for Northeast Winemaking in Southington. The new facility produces wine, distributes wine, hosts wine-making classes, and includes a tasting area and events space. Included in the construction was (6) overhead doors, mezzanine, masonry, interior finishes, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and sprinkler. to expand the factory's capacity to 350 megawatts within its existing footprint, and has begun investing in manufacturing equipment needed for the potential ramp-up. FuelCell expects to spend up to $30 million on the initial phase this fiscal year. Few said a new partnership with London-based infrastructure investment firm Sustainable Development Capital LLP (SDCL) has already identified about 450 megawatts of potential projects. FuelCell also has a memorandum of understanding with South Korean partner InuVerse to deploy up to 100 megawatts of fuel cell power for an AI data center, with a targeted 2027 start date. 'Willing to pay' UConn has experience with the tech- nology FuelCell Energy is promoting to data center operators. The school has operated fuel cells at its Depot Campus since 2012, and in 2024 announced a partnership with FuelCell Energy to install systems at the UConn Tech Park in Storrs. Zhou said the school's fuel cell use shows the technology can generate power reliably for large facilities and potentially data centers. Still, he acknowledged the technology faces challenges, including high upfront costs, durability questions over long operating periods and supply chain constraints for some materials. Even so, he said he remains optimistic about the technology's long-term prospects. He noted that FuelCell Energy collaborates with the university on student research and workforce development. However, not everyone is convinced FuelCell Energy's project pipeline will translate into substantial revenue. Jeff Osborne, a senior research analyst at TD Cowen, said the power sector has attracted attention amid surging data center demand, but inves- tors remain cautious. "Investors are skeptically watching the sector given historical execution issues, a path to profitability and unclear capital needs," Osborne told the Hartford Business Journal. He added that well over half of data center projects in development fail to come together. FuelCell Energy continued to report losses in its most recent quarter, which ended Jan. 31, but revenue increased 61% to $30.5 million, driven largely by deliveries in South Korea. The net loss was $26.1 million, improved from $32.4 million a year earlier, and the company reported $379.6 million in cash and restricted cash. The company's strategy could benefit from a growing push by policymakers to require data centers to secure their own power generation. Gov. Ned Lamont has suggested Connecticut could slow approvals for new data centers unless they add their own power generation, while President Donald Trump made a similar argument during his State of the Union address, urging large technology companies to build their own power plants. Few argued that fuel cells generating power on-site could help Connecticut attract data centers without passing costs on to ratepayers. "We can do this without people having to pay for Microsoft's, Amazon's or Google's progress," Few said. "And by the way, those compa- nies are willing to pay." FuelCell Energy's new 12.5-megawatt fuel cell system bundles multiple units into a package designed to power small- to medium-sized data centers. Contributed Photo

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