CCAT to lead regional fuel-cell cluster

The Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT) in East Hartford landed a $566,573 Small Business Administration contract to aid enterprises in the Northeast to expand their commercialization of hydrogen-fuel cell technology and products.

SBA Administrator Karen Mills is expected during a 1 p.m. media conference call to shed more light on the pilot program centered around the creation of the Connecticut Hydrogen-Fuel Cell Coalition/Cluster and nine other regional clusters nationwide.

The clusters are meant to enhance economic growth through the development, manufacture, and deployment of fuel cell and hydrogen technologies and associated fueling systems. They also will collaborate their development with the public sector, economic development and other organizations.

CCAT Director Joel Rinebold was reluctant to get too far ahead of Mills' formal announcement, but told HBJ Today the SBA's Northeast regional cluster comprises some 170 enterprises -- many of them in Connecticut -- engaged in retail development of fuel-cell components and technology.