Fuel Cells To Fuel Growth In Worcester
Rep. Spellane proposes WPI as industry center
Worcester is fast becoming a cluster of clusters. It has become a leading biotechnology cluster, has long been a manufacturing cluster and is home to an emerging clean energy cluster.
And if Rep. Robert Spellane, D-Worcester, has his way, the city will soon become a fuel cell technology cluster as well. To that end, Spellane has proposed legislation that would establish the Massachusetts Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Collaborative at Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a little state investment.
Energized
Fuel cells use clean hydrogen gas to create electric power, and emit only minor amounts of heat and water as a byproduct, making them highly desirable for a number of commercial, industrial, residential and military applications.
According to Spellane, the city is at the same point today with regard to fuel cells as it was 25 years ago with its biotech initiative. That effort, as is well known, has paid off with the city now home to many biotech start-ups as well as innovative research at UMass Medical Center.
WPI has been a pioneer in fuel cell research for years, and is a natural fit for such an institute, Spellane said. The institute would be the product of a five-year, $2 million-per-year investment, which Spellane has outlined in a bill he submitted to the legislature. The bill also calls for $2 million in the first year "to establish a central state-of-the-art central testing and evaluation laboratory available to all universities and companies within the commonwealth."
Ravindra Datta, professor of chemical engineering and director of WPI's existing Fuel Cell Center, said the school would use the money to renovate and create new lab space, which could be used by both students and startup companies as a kind of demonstration lab.
Spellane envisions a fuel cell and green energy district in the city in the vicinity of WPI, perhaps in the Main North area, which is looking for redevelopment strategies anyways.
Luring established fuel cell companies, such as Southborough's Protonex Technology Corp., would be one goal of the initiative, but Spellane said the city might be better served by creating a cluster of both manufacturing and research and development startup companies that could feed off of each other, in the mold of Massachusetts Biotechnology Initiatives, a biotech incubator in the city.
In response to criticism that the initiative might be deemed a low priority given the government's prior commitments to biotech, casino gambling and infrastructure repair, to name a few, Spellane said that the economics of the initiative would speak for themselves.
"In the state right now, there's about 60 companies doing fuel cell work, with about 1,000 jobs," Spellane said. "Without us doing anything, in the next five years, that is predicted to grow to 14,000 jobs. Imagine if we just helped it along a little? The economic benefits for the city, state and world could be tremendous."
Spellane said the goal of his initiative is to trim what might be a seven- or nine-year organic growth process into a one- to three-year period, and to do it in Worcester.
"Our objective is to say, 'We know this is going to happen. How do we get it so we're bringing these companies to Worcester?'"
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