Monday, October 13, 2008

UTC Power awards milestone for microturbine

By Mass High Tech Staff

Alternative energy company UTC Power has delivered a milestone payment to Calif.-based Capstone Turbine Corp. for its completion of the building of a microturbine. South Windsor, Conn.-based UTC Power has handed Capstone five of the six milestones set up as part of a development agreement, totalling $10.5 million of the $12 million called for in the agreement.

Capstone (Nasdaq:CPST) built and delivered to UTC Power a low-pressure, dual-mode C200 microturbine system that met the performance specifications outlined in the agreement, as part of UTC Power’s 200kW microturbine development and commercialization program, officials said.

The microturbine system is intended to be integrated into UTC Power’s PureComfort absorption chiller, and will undergo more reliability demonstration testing.

Earlier this month, UT Power bought energy engineering firm Architectural Energy Corp., which evaluates buildings based on energy and environmental criteria.

The privately held, Boulder, Colo.-based, engineering firm will be led by Charles Braunstein, founder of Dome-Tech Inc., an Edison, N.J., company acquired last year by UTC.

No financial terms of the deal were disclosed.

UTC Power, a division of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), focuses on fuel cells and power sources for on-site power, transportation, space and defense applications, as well heating and power products for the distributed energy market.

Across its six operating segments, Hartford, Conn.-based United Technologies employs more than 225,000 people worldwide. It reported $55 billion in revenue in 2007, with a net profit of $4.2 billion.