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www.CTGreenGuide.com SprinG 2015 • Connecticut Green Guide 19 This comes in stark contrast to the previous two years for the South Windsor fuel cell facil- ity, where small California firm ClearEdge Power — who took over in 2013 after UTC gave up trying to make it profitable — struggled to maintain its revenues and keep its workers employed before bottoming out in April by laying off its entire workforce and declaring bankruptcy. "The difference that Doosan has, we don't think about this on a year or two-year basis," said Jeff Hyun- grak Chung, CEO of Doosan Fuel Cell America. "If we believe there is a market opportunity, that is the sustaining factor." Former UTC CEO Louis Chenevert saw fuel cells as an unprofitable divi- sion that didn't align with the con- glomerate's aerospace and building system products. ClearEdge's chief investor Jim Kohlberg waivered in his support of the technology before finally pulling the plug, leading to the sudden layoffs. Doosan CEO and Chairman Yongmaan Park sees fuel cells as the future of local power grids and wants to get his conglomerate in on the ground floor, Chung said. "The key difference is Doosan has made the commitments," Chung said. "This is a top priority for our top management." UTC and former ClearEdge man- agement declined to be interviewed for this article. Doosan is not listed on any stock exchange, so its leaders aren't beholden to quarterly returns or analysts, Chung said. Park prefers to think about where the company needs to be over the next 100 years, and that includes being at the fore- front of the fuel cell market. The acquisition of UTC's former fuel cell assets is the latest move in Doosan's transition from a consum- er-based company to an industrial conglomerate. Back in 1997, South Korea suffered through an Asian Jeff Hyungrak Chung CURRenT TiTLe: CEO of Doosan Fuel Cell America, based in South Windsor CURRenT LOCaTiOn: South Windsor immediaTe paST pOSiTiOn: Chief Strategy Officer of Doosan Heavy industries immediaTe paST LOCaTiOn: South Korea deGReeS: Bachelor's from Harvard, master's in economics from Brown University SOURCE: DOOSAn Technological Differences While the basics of all fuel cells are the same, companies use different technologies to produce electricity in the chemical process. CoMPANy fuelCell energy doosan TECHNoLoGy Carbonate Phosphoric Acid ESTIMATED PowER oUTPUT 300kw-2.8mW 400kw TyPICAL CUSToMERS Utilities, Large industrial Commercial Buildings FUEL natural Gas, biogas natural Gas RECovERS wASTE HEAT? yes yes SOURCE: FUELCELL EnERGy History of Doosan Fuel Cell America 1958: East Harford jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney starts a fuel cell division 1966: The division begins supplying fuel cells for nASA space missions 1985: The division becomes a wholly owned UTC subsidiary, named international Fuel Cells 1990s: The company begins developing fuel cell power plants 2001: The company is renamed uTC power February 2013: Taking $227 million in charges, UTC unloads the subsidiary onto ClearEdge Power April 2014: ClearEdge lays off all its workers, files for bankruptcy in may July 18, 2014: Doosan agrees to buy firm off auction block for $32.4 million SOURCES: UTC, U.S. SECURiTiES & ExCHAnGE COmmiSSiOn, DOOSAn Hartford's Gold Building, headquarters of United Technologies Corp., original owners of the South Windsor fuel cell firm. PHOTO | HBJ FiLE