Irvine-based clean technology startup FlexEnergy Inc. has nearly quadrupled its space with its new headquarters as it strives for viability in a sector that has its doubters.
The company, which developed a system that turns methane gas from landfills into electrical power, moved into a two-story, 35,000-square-foot building near the former El Toro Marine base last week. The building, at 9400 Toledo Way, includes offices and a distribution center for replacement parts for its systems.
The additional space will accommodate new hires, corporate executives and the company’s sales, marketing, research and development divisions, which includes testing and design, according to Bruce Rosen, FlexEnergy’s chief commercial officer.
Terms of the multiyear lease were undisclosed.
Demand for renewable energy, fueled by government rebates and incentives, has spurred hiring throughout the company’s operations. It’s adding staff for sales, marketing, engineering and customer service here and engineers, field technicians and production crews at its 50,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in New Hampshire.
Recent Buy
That plant was acquired last year after FlexEnergy bought the energy systems business of Ingersoll Rand Co., which makes microturbines, microturbine systems and recuperators that go into power stations.
FlexEnergy’s could surpass 150 employees by the end of year, up from about 120 today, according to Mike Levin, FlexEnergy’s director of government affairs and a cofounder of CleanTech OC, an industry group.
“We now have the people who will fill this building,” he said.
The additions come as FlexEnergy begins to land new business, an ongoing struggle for clean tech companies.
Its first commercial system was installed early this year at the Army’s Fort Benning in Georgia. Tests will run throughout the year on the system. Birmingham, Ala.-based Southern Research Institute is expected to publish a report on the findings later this year.
That installation is one of many the company hopes to land in the public sector.
Defense Dollars
The Department of Defense has set aside billions of dollars for renewable energy projects under mandates for its bases and other buildings.
FlexEnergy recently hired 20-year Navy veteran Brad Hancock to lead the push for defense contracts.
Hancock will be based in Washington, D.C.
The company also is awaiting approval from the California Public Utilities Commission to qualify under the Self Generation Incentive Program, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It hasn’t qualified since 2007, but new guidelines could open the door for more government incentives, according to Levin.
FlexEnergy also has put in a bid to install its Flex Powerstation—a turbine and other equipment that breaks down methane gases and converts them to electricity with nearly no emissions—at the Santiago Canyon landfill.
The Flex Powerstation goes for about $800,000. It stands some 17 feet high and weighs 12 tons.
Each Flex Powerstation can produce 250 kilowatts of power daily, enough to power about 250 homes, according to the company.
There are about 515 U.S. landfills that have enough methane concentrations to produce commercial energy, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Those landfills and other sites, such as former oil fields, are FlexEnergy’s starting market.
Competition
There’s big competition: Houston-based Waste Management Inc., the largest trash hauler and landfill operator, dominates landfill energy. It has 110 projects that generate enough energy to power 400,000 homes a day.
Other rivals include General Electric Co. and Capstone Turbine Corp., which make equipment for converting landfill waste into energy.
A business that buys one of FlexEnergy’s powerstations can use the energy itself and sell any extra power to a utility.
The powerstations also can extract energy from coal mines and old industrial plants. The company is concentrating on landfills because so many have been identified as ready for commercial power generation.
The deal at Fort Benning follows a pilot plant set up last year at the Lamb Canyon Landfill in Riverside County, a project done with the County of Riverside Waste Management Department.
Testing is set to continue throughout this year on the system, which generates about 30 kilowatts a day.
Another pilot system is set to be installed in France later in the year, according to FlexEnergy.
FlexEnergy has made headway in South Korea as well, installing several machines there in the past few years. The company has two engineers there now who have been commissioned on a five-unit project, according to Luedde.
FlexEnergy got a head start thanks to a research breakthrough on its process two years ago.
Since then, it is has secured more than $18 million in funding.
Backers
Major backers include Irvine-based Sail Venture Partners, which has invested some $50 million in local clean tech companies, and RNS Capital Partners, a Newport Beach private equity firm.
Later this year FlexEnergy and its technology will be featured on the Discovery Channel’s “Future 360” program.
The company was founded by Edan Prabhu, a former executive at Southern California Edison Co. He managed the design and construction of a 20-megawatt geothermal power plant for the utility and served as a project engineer for nuclear power, coal, oil and gas fired plants.
Prabhu, who was on then-President Bill Clinton’s National Biomass Advisory Committee, now is a consultant and board member at FlexEnergy.
