FuelCell lands $129M deal with S. Korean company
FuelCell Energy Inc. received a $129 million order from Posco Power, its largest ever, not including unspecified royalty payments as the South Korean company builds out a fuel-cell-powered energy plant.
Danbury-based FuelCell Energy will ship fuel-cell kits totaling 70 megawatts of electric capacity for manufacture in South Korea beginning this October. In 2009, Posco placed a $59 million order with FuelCell Energy, while taking an equity stake in the company.
Beginning next year, South Korea must produce 350 MW of renewable energy capacity annually through 2016, and then 700 MW per year through 2022.
“This is the largest order ever received by FuelCell Energy, almost doubling product sales and service backlog and enabling us to maintain production at an annual rate of 55 MW,” said Chip Bottone, CEO of FuelCell Energy, in a prepared statement.
“Higher production levels will drive product costs down further as we achieve manufacturing and purchasing efficiencies.”
Separately, FuelCell Energy took a $9 million charge against earnings in the second quarter to repair 16 fuel-cell modules sold between 2007 and early 2009, with FuelCell blaming the problem on the type of sealant and design utilized.
Sikorsky cuts jobs
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. is cutting a third of its workforce in upstate New York, blaming a slowdown in military orders while holding out the possibility of rehiring workers if contracts materialize.
Nearly 400 workers are receiving pink slips in Horseheads, N.Y., where Sikorsky performs customization work on Black Hawk helicopters built in Stratford. Only last year, Sikorsky had sought approval for an expansion at the plant.
Sikorsky is the largest employer in Fairfield County with more than 9,000 workers. Spokesman Paul Jackson said the Horseheads layoffs were necessary in part due to flattening military aircraft orders, and did not rule out job cuts here.
The layoffs come as the company is preparing to attend the biennial Paris Air Show when aerospace companies announce some of their biggest contracts of the year.
Connecticut headed toward surplus
Connecticut could end the 2011 fiscal year with a surplus of $680 million, according to state Comptroller Kevin Lembo.
The largest revenue gains were in the income tax, the sales tax, the inheritance tax and the corporation tax.
SSI merges with Utah company
Survey Sampling International Inc. is merging with Opinionology, with both companies providing survey services for market research companies.
The companies will operate under the brand of Survey Sampling International, which is based in Shelton. Combined, the companies have 1,300 employees in 30 offices.
Previously known as Western Wats, Opinionology is based in Orem, Utah.
SIGG affiliate files for Chapter 11
The Stamford-based U.S. affiliate of SIGG has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, owing more than $1 million to multiple big-name companies including Target and Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom L.L.P.
Under Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, companies buy time to restructure their operations and finances.
A maker of trendy aluminum water bottles, SIGG has been in business for more than a century. It manufactures its bottles in Switzerland, with a hockey-puck sized piece of aluminum getting punched into a cylinder shape by a press before being refined to various designs. SIGG bottles were displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in the early 1990s; the company also produces bottles to specific designs for corporations and other groups.
Survey: ESPN top brand in New England
Connecticut is home to the three most powerful brands of any companies in New England, with ESPN, Subway and General Electric Co. edging out Massachusetts-based Dunkin Donuts and Vermont-based Ben and Jerry”™s.
Boston-based Protobrand surveyed 400 industry professionals outside New England to generate the list, which also included the Bethel-based Duracell unit of Procter & Gamble Co. and Priceline.com Inc. in Norwalk.
Pitney Bowes reopens mail facility
Just four months after a fire destroyed a major mail-sorting facility in Grand Prairie, Texas, Pitney Bowes Inc. opened a replacement facility there.
Some 400 people work at the new facility, which measures more than 160,000 square feet and has the ability to handle 1.6 billion letters annually. Pitney Bowes handles 14 billion pieces of mail per year through its 36 facilities across the U.S.
Trumbull company launches RE energy database
Sustainable Real Estate Solutions Inc. is selling access to a database that provides benchmarking data on more than 120,000 commercial buildings nationwide, totaling 3.3 billion square feet of space.
Trumbull-based SRS stated the database is intended as a replacement to the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey database operated by the Energy Information Administration that tracks Energy Star ratings. EIA is no longer providing funds to maintain the database. The SRS database compares a building”™s energy and water consumption and other costs and overall efficiency to buildings of comparable size, use and location.
Commerce Dept. expands assistance
The U.S. Department of Commerce included Connecticut among 16 regions where it is offering its new CommerceConnect program, which aims to cut red tape for businesses seeking assistance or information.
The Commerce Department is running the program at its Middletown office, where it also runs an export assistance center for Connecticut businesses.
The new program is available for startups and established businesses alike. Some 440 companies have received assistance in Michigan since 2009 when a pilot program was established there. Information is available at 1-888-728-4190 or www.CommerceConnect.gov.
TEK Systems takes Fairfield lease
Technology staffing company TEK Systems Inc. leased nearly 6,000 square feet of space at 777 Commerce Drive in Fairfield, while Midland Paper National L.L.C. took more than 3,000 square feet at 1375 Kings Highway.
Both buildings are owned by Westport-based Abbey Road Advisors. TEK Systems and Midland Paper indicated they took the leases in part for the offices”™ proximity to a new Metro-North train station slated to open in Fairfield this October.
Fairfield building sold to physician
A plastic surgeon spent $725,000 for a Fairfield building with plans to use it as a medical building.
HK Group handled negotiations on behalf of the buyer Dr. Al Sofer, while Coldwell Banker Commercial represented the seller Alex Conroy, a real estate developer.
