FuelCell Energy is looking for a place to build a factory with more than 1 gigawatt of annual capacity, according to its corporate filings.
The announcement comes from the investor presentation the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 2, as exhibit 99.2 to a Form 8-K.
No state is named anywhere in it.
Why FuelCell Needs Another Plant
FuelCell builds its products in Torrington, Connecticut. The presentation sets a target of 500 megawatts of annual production capacity there by June 2028.
The company plans to spend $200 million to $275 million on that expansion.
Investing.com’s summary of the same quarterly results reports that data centers made up 97% of the company’s sales pipeline by August, and that the average proposal size tripled.
The company also disclosed a 75 megawatt capacity reservation with a data center operator for a project in Texas.
In June the company signed an agreement with Fit Energy for up to 380 megawatts across 4 phases, with a deposit on the first 30.
What the Factory Looks Like
The presentation describes 2 kinds of facility, not 1. The first is a “high volume centralized cell manufacturing core.” The second is a network of “distributed final-assembly centers near demand.”
The company says it has done this before in “South Korea & Germany,” and its presentation states, “we know how to localize final assembly.”
It calls the design “automation first” and cites a supplier network that is 90% US based with no reliance on rare earth elements.
What the Site Has to Do
The deck publishes no acreage, power, water or workforce figure for the new plant. What it does publish is a set of screening criteria.
Automation first requires a plant that employs fewer people per dollar invested and weights technician and maintenance skills over head count. A county selling raw labor supply is answering a question the company did not ask. A highly skilled labor force would be in alignment with FuelCell’s goals.
Distributed final-assembly centers near demand put the assembly work at data center clusters rather than at the cheapest land. Demand is the location criterion, stated by the company.
The high volume centralized cell manufacturing core goes the other way. This plant would feed the network, requiring power, logistics and a building envelope that suits continuous production, not closeness to any single customer.
The supply chain line is a criterion too. A network that is 90% US based and free of rare earth elements favors a site inside an existing industrial supplier base.
The Product Runs on Gas
FuelCell’s plants run on “natural gas, biogas, or H2 blends,” according to the presentation. In March the company introduced a standard 12.5 megawatt power block for data centers, built from 5 smaller units.
For a county courting data centers, that is a separate point. A data center that cannot get enough grid power quickly may generate its own on site, and a fuel cell installation needs gas service sized to match. Gas pipeline capacity becomes part of the site conversation.
What Is in Dispute
The expansion is also the subject of litigation. Law firms announced securities class action claims in September covering investors who bought shares between June 24 and September 1, with a lead plaintiff deadline of November 10.
The complaints allege the company did not disclose that its manufacturing capacity was inadequate for the production rate its first data center agreement required. The allegations are unproven, and FuelCell has not conceded them.
What It Means for Data Center Demand
Communities with data center demand have 2 reasons to watch FuelCell:
- A potential assembly center, and
- Customers who may power their buildings with its products.
Counties with advanced manufacturing sites also have an incentive to attract a plant looking for highly skilled labor.
Nothing about the search is public beyond its presentation. The practical preparation is knowing the county’s gas capacity, its data center pipeline, and whether it has a site that could house a highly automated plant.
Sources
- FuelCell Energy, “Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results & Business Update,” Form 8-K exhibit 99.2, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, September 2, 2026.
- FuelCell Energy, “FuelCell Energy Scales Up for Data Centers with Packaged 12.5 MW Utility-Grade Power Block Solution and Manufacturing Expansion Plans,” March 23, 2026.
- Investing.com, “FuelCell Energy Q3 2026 slides: AI pivot drives backlog despite losses,” September 2026.
- Glancy Prongay Wolke & Rotter LLP, securities class action announcement, GlobeNewswire, September 28, 2026.
Cover photo: Data centers in Ashburn, Loudoun County, Virginia, including facilities under construction, July 30, 2026. Photo by johnemac72 via iStock.
