Bloom Energy®, a manufacturer of fuel cells, has broken ground on a new manufacturing facility in Newark, Del. KR Sridhar, principal co-founder and chief executive officer of Bloom Energy said, “Once the Bloom Energy Manufacturing Center is completed, we will double Bloom Energy’s production capacity.”

Not all energy-efficient HVAC equipment qualifies for tax credits, but there are four renewable energy product categories that do — geothermal heat pumps, small wind turbines, solar energy systems, and fuel cells. Though some seem beyond HVAC, they each have the potential to bring new revenue streams to contractors.

HyperSolar Inc. announced that it has jointly filed a patent application with the University of California, Santa Barbara for the “protection and stability of electroactive units used for production of fuels and chemicals.” According to the company, this new protective coating has the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of fuel cells.

FuelCell Energy Inc. has announced an order from its South Korean partner, POSCO Energy, for 121.8 megawatts (MW) of fuel cell kits and services from its FuelCell Energy production facility in Torrington, Conn. The estimated value of the multi-year contract is approximately $181 million.

Annual shipments of fuel cell systems will grow rapidly over the next five years, from less than 29,000 in 2012 to more than 600,000 by 2017, according to a report from Pike Research. The market value of the fuel cell industry is expected to reach $15.7 billion by 2017.

FuelCell Energy Inc. has announced a project utilizing a stationary fuel cell power plant to support Microsoft’s latest data center research project. The power plant will use renewable biogas generated by a wastewater treatment facility as the fuel source to generate clean, carbon-neutral electricity for Microsoft’s Data Plant project.

ClearEdge Power, a manufacturer of fuel cell systems, announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire UTC Power, a unit of United Technologies Corp., which also develops and manufactures fuel cells.

Hines, an international real estate firm, and equity partner J.P. Morgan Asset Management, announced that the 13-story, 415,000-square-foot building under construction at La Jolla Commons in San Diego will become the nation’s largest net-zero energy office building to date.

WATT Fuel Cell Corp., a developer and manufacturer of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) systems, has announced the establishment of a strategic licensing and supply agreement with Parker Hannifin Corp. The agreement allows for Parker’s production of a family of propane-driven, SOFC-based products.

The fuel cell sector is now at a point where, if all government policy related to stationary fuel cells was carried out, the global market potential would surpass three gigawatts (GW) in 2013, and increase to more than 50 GW by 2020, according to a new report from Pike Research, a part of Navigant’s Energy Practice.