GSA Daily Staff Report
Published July 17, 2009

A new public-private collaboration plans to construct a hydrogen fueling station in the Upstate and produce and sell hydrogen and alternative fuel, the South Carolina Research Authority announced Thursday.

SCRA has partnered with the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research, the city of Greenville, Greenville County and Hyperion Partners LLC to form the Clemson/Greenville Alternative Energy & Renewables Collaborative.

The collaborative was formed to expand research and funding to enable South Carolina to lead the integration of alternative and renewable energy efforts in automotive, transportation and other industries.

Hyperion Partners is a startup company formed to plan, coordinate and manage public and private renewable and alternative energy projects and ventures in the Upstate. The company’s principals are Edward C. Marshall, Brad Van Meter, Gary F. Caldwell and Richard E. Parvey.

Hyperion is considering a location on the CU-ICAR campus for its first station in South Carolina. The station will provide immediate and ongoing research capability. It will be constructed to initially dispense Hydrogen, compressed natural gas and propane as a demonstration project to enable the growth of new lines of research into alternative fuels at the research campus. The station will also provide the potential for city and county municipal fleet fueling and ultimately local, commercial use.

Research is planned for an adjacent residential and commercial community and located directly across Interstate I-85 from CU-ICAR. Hydrogen and other alternative energy sources will serve as a research component for several of the developments planned within one of the largest planned urban infill residential and commercial developments in the Southeast, planned for a site directly across I-85 from CU-ICAR. Stationary fuel cell power generation could serve as stand-by, back-up or planned auxiliary supplement within the construction of the sustainably designed residential and commercial community.

This collaborative will enable commercialization of research from Clemson University and further strengthens South Carolina’s existing alternative energy presence. An existing hydrogen fueling station in Columbia with partners including Engenuity SC and the Columbia Fuel Cell Collaborative was built earlier this year. Looking forward, groups have already expressed interest to establish a similar collaborative based in the Lowcountry. These projects help realize the vision for South Carolina to lead alternative energy research and commercialization.