HydroGen Corp., which uses a patented technology developed by the Westinghouse Electrical Corp., is in the process of ramping up production for its 400 kilowatt fuel cells in Versailles and plans to announce shortly where it will house its first industrial fuel cell demonstration project. Construction work on the fuel cell installation is scheduled to begin by April.

The company's business plan is to build fuel cell power islands big enough to take hydrogen used in manufacturing processes such as coke making and chlorine manufacturing and convert it to electricity. The company plans on selling its fuel cells in 2 megawatt power islands comprised of five 400 kilowatt cells. The islands would cost around $3 million.

For its first manufacturing base, the company has taken a five-year lease on 30,000 square feet of space on Juniper Street in Versailles formerly occupied by the National Carbide Die Corp. That company had more than 90 employees at one time but went out of business and sold all of its assets in December 2003.

Josh Tosteson, president of HydroGen, has 25 employees in Versailles now and plans to at least double that number in the next three to four months. He said the company is in talks with numerous local manufacturers about using the company's fuel cells. Tosteson said he knows of no other company planning to produce fuel cells the size of those planned by HydroGen.

The man who has the job of ramping up production and getting as many as five fuel cells per year produced in Versailles is William Copeland, a University of Pittsburgh graduate who formerly supervised production at the American Video Glass Co., the flat television screen producer affiliated with the Sony Corp.'s campus in Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County. HydroGen announced the hire of Copeland as manufacturing manager this week.

Tosteson and Copeland said speed is now of the essence.

"The biggest challenge is going to be getting the current process up and running to produce our preliminary product," Copeland said. He said the first fuel cell could be delivered by November.

Tosteson said HydroGen must build a successful demonstration project to be able to sign on the kind of industrial customers the company will need to become profitable.

John Hanger, president of PennFuture, a Harrisburg nonprofit that advocates alternative energy use, said HydroGen is now a runner in a worldwide race to produce commercially viable fuel cells. He said the field is fraught with hype and competition but wished HydroGen and its competitors well.

"We support alternative energy and support fuel cell development, and I wish the companies all success," Hanger said.