DANBURY, Conn. — FuelCell Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq: FCEL) — a global leader in fuel cell technology with a purpose of utilizing its proprietary, state-of-the-art fuel cell platforms to enable a world empowered by clean energy—announced today that the Company closed on a tax equity financing transaction with East West Bank for the 7.4 megawatts (“MW”) fuel cell project located on the U.S. Navy Submarine Base in Groton, CT, also known as the Submarine Force.
East West Bank’s tax equity commitment totals $15 million. We believe that this commitment further demonstrates the market’s interest in financing FuelCell Energy’s distributed sustainable energy platforms as the Company works with customers to achieve their decarbonization and enhanced grid resiliency goals.
“We are thrilled to team up with East West Bank, partnering on this important financing solution and supporting our commercial platform deployment,” said Michael Bishop, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of FuelCell Energy. “This efficient financing enables FuelCell Energy to retain most of this project’s long-term, recurring cash flow, and creates a structure that will facilitate additional capital opportunities that are expected to further return cash to the Company and enhance overall return on equity for this project.”
The Company continues to advance the project through mechanical completion and expects commercial operation to commence prior to the end of September 2021. Following commercial operation, the Company expects to add back-leverage debt financing to complete the project’s capital structure.
“East West Bank is delighted to partner with FuelCell Energy on the fuel cell project located on the U.S. Navy Submarine Base in Connecticut,” said Christopher Simeone, Senior Vice President with East West Bank. “As a leader in financing clean and alternative energies, we look forward to seeing the U.S. Navy and the Groton community benefit from this important project.”
“The U.S. Navy Submarine Base project is a milestone project for FuelCell Energy, demonstrating our high quality and reliable clean energy solution that enables electrical resiliency with the country’s most critical infrastructure, while supporting the Navy’s decarbonization goals” said Jason Few, President and Chief Executive Officer, FuelCell Energy. “The United States Defense Critical Electrical Infrastructure initiative is important to national security, and we are honored to have an opportunity to deploy our platform in a microgrid configuration towards this mission,” Few added. “We are optimistic that the current policy focus on infrastructure should present additional opportunities to deploy our SureSource™ platform in support of the Defense Critical Electrical Infrastructure initiative.”
FuelCell Energy installed 7.4 MW of SureSource™ power platforms at the U.S. Navy Submarine Base in Groton, CT to provide a long-term supply of power to an existing electrical substation. The fuel cell plant is part of a multifaceted plan by the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative (“CMEEC”) to provide new power resources and support the desire of the Department of Defense to add resiliency and grid independence to key military installations. The highly efficient fuel cell power generation project minimizes carbon output while providing continuous power to the strategic military base. The U.S. Navy continues to purchase power from CMEEC and Groton Utilities, who in turn purchase the power from FuelCell Energy under a 20-year power purchase agreement. This pay-as-you-go structure enables CMEEC and the Navy to avoid a direct investment in owning the power plant which will be operated and maintained by the Company.
About East West Bank
East West Bank provides financial services that help clients reach further and connect to new opportunities. The bank is wholly-owned by East West Bancorp, Inc., which has total assets of $59.9 billion and is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “EWBC.” East West Bank operates over 120 locations in the United States and China. In the United States, East West Bank has branches in California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Texas and Washington. In China, East West’s presence includes full-service branches in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shantou and Shenzhen, and representative offices in Beijing, Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Xiamen. For more information on East West, visit www.eastwestbank.com.
About FuelCell Energy
FuelCell Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL): FuelCell Energy is a global leader in sustainable clean energy technologies that address some of the world’s most critical challenges around energy, safety and global urbanization. As a leading global manufacturer of proprietary fuel cell technology platforms, FuelCell Energy is uniquely positioned to serve customers worldwide with sustainable products and solutions for businesses, utilities, governments and municipalities.
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