HydroGen Corp. on Friday said a $1.25 million grant from the Ohio Department of Development will help fund its commercial fuel-cell project.

President Joshua Tosteson said the Fuel Cell Prototype Center at Stark State College of Technology and the Wright Center of Innovation at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland make both areas attractive for the project.

Tosteson said the company, which has 20 employees at its base near Pittsburgh, will locate a 400-kilowatt commercial demonstration fuel-cell project and will establish its corporate headquarters in Ohio, but at separate locations. Together the facilities could create about 200 jobs.

The project is the start of the company’s efforts to develop an automated manufacturing facility between 2006 and 2008. The company also is looking at the Akron and Medina areas, Tosteson said. The Pennsylvania facility would remain in place for three or four years, he said.

Tosteson said Canton is among a “number of areas” his company is looking at. He said a decision could be made within days or weeks. He would not comment further on a site.

The project will install and operate an air-cooled phosphoric acid fuel cell at an industrial location to test and validate its performance. The 400-kilowatt cell is a building block for the company’s main product, a 2 million watt unit.

Tosteson said market opportunities, supply chain and partnerships available in Ohio make it attractive, along with support and financial help from the state.

The state’s fuel-cell initiative, started in 2003, reserves $100 million in incentives to promote the research, development and commercialization of fuel-cell technology, according to Lt. Gov. Bruce Johnson, who is also director of the Department of Development.

HydroGen is a developer of multi-megawatt fuel-cell systems. Using fuel-cell technology originally developed by Westinghouse Corp., the company targets market applications where hydrogen is currently available and other factors favoring the adoption of fuel cells are present.

Copley Columbus Bureau Chief Paul E. Kostyu also contributed to this story.