UTC Power and its research partners will develop more durable and less costly seals and catalysts for transportation fuel cell stacks. Seals and catalysts are critical components for enhancing fuel cell performance; they also must be producible at low cost.

U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman on Monday announced $100 million in funding for 25 cost-shared hydrogen research projects around the country. The President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative seeks to make the purchase of fuel cell vehicles both practical and cost-effective for large numbers of Americans by 2020.

Earlier this month, the Federal Transit Administration awarded UTC Power and research partners more than $14 million for three separate fuel cell bus technology development programs.

"We're pleased to be recognized as a company that can and will continue to make important technical contributions to the advancement of fuel cell technology," said UTC Power President Jan van Dokkum. "The Department of Transportation and DOE have both demonstrated their faith in our ability to bring environmentally advanced products and solutions to real-life revenue service," he added.

UTC Power is a global leader in development of fuel cell technology for transportation, onsite power and space and defense markets. The total number of U.S. patents issued to the company is 687; there are now 167 pending U.S. patent applications.

Since 1998, the company has been supplying fuel cell power plants for buses in Washington, D.C., California, Spain and Italy and recently announced orders for Connecticut and Belgium. UTC Power has partnerships with several major vehicle manufacturers to develop fuel cell technology for cars and fleet vehicles.

United Technologies Corp., based in Hartford, Conn., provides high- technology products and services to the building and aerospace industries. Its UTC Power unit includes UTC Fuel Cells and is a full-service provider of environmentally advanced power solutions. With more than 40 years of experience, UTC Power is a world leader in developing and producing fuel cells for onsite power, transportation, space and defense applications, and a developer of innovative combined cooling, heating and power applications in the distributed energy market.