South Carolina is named a Top 5 Fuel Cell State for the second year in a row by Fuel Cells 2000's State of the States Report.

Columbia, SC (June 16, 2011) – South Carolina is named a Top 5 Fuel Cell State for the second year in a row. News of this honor came Tuesday with the release of Fuel Cell 2000's 2011 "State of the States: Fuel Cells in America" report.

The Top 5 states – South Carolina, California, Connecticut, New York, and Ohio – continued to reign supreme from 2010. South Carolina has become a major player in the hydrogen and fuel cell industry over the past few years and continues to grow and expand its efforts through education and outreach, infrastructure development, hydrogen research and development, fuel cell research and development, technology transfer and policy development.

"South Carolina is rife with opportunities for innovation, collaboration, and ultimately success," said Neil McLean, executive director for the USC Columbia-Fuel Cell Collaborative. "We are fortunate in Columbia to have a pioneering community of industry leaders, government officials, and researchers dedicated to creating a cutting-edge nexus of industry innovation. This honor continues to validate our state and community's work and prove hydrogen and fuel cells are the way of the future."

"Supportive state policies are helping foster fuel cell installations, company relocations and growth to help keep the U.S. at the forefront of fuel cell commercialization, despite competition from countries such as Japan, Korea and Germany," said Jennifer Gangi, program director for Fuel Cells 2000 and one of the authors of the (State of the States: Fuel Cells in America) report. "Continued federal and state support is crucial to moving the emerging fuel cell industry into full-fledged commercialization for a wide variety of applications and power needs."

South Carolina's positive initiatives towards aiding in the expansion of the hydrogen and fuel cell industries have become a leader and model for other states to follow. The report noted Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland and Texas as "Up and Coming" states to watch.

"We are pleased to again be honored with this top recognition as a leader in the industry," said Shannon Baxter-Clemmons, Ph. D., executive director for the South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance. "South Carolina is well positioned to accept the continued growth of the hydrogen and fuel cell industry. Currently, South Carolina is the only state to uniformly permit hydrogen and fuel cells at the state level while using internationally recognized codes and standards and is home to two hydrogen fueling stations (located in Columbia and Graniteville). These efforts will aid in safe, effective and efficient adoption and commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cells - which is good news since most major automotive companies are slated to begin mass commercialization of their fuel cell vehicles by 2015."

To view the full "State of the States: Fuel Cells in America" report, please go to http://www.fuelcells.org/statereport.html.

About the South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance (SCHFCA)
The South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance is a non-profit public-private partnership of academic, government and business coordinating resources in South Carolina to advance the commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cells. For more information about the SCHFCA, please visit http://schydrogen.org/ or call 803-545-0189.

About the USC-Fuel Cell Collaborative
The University of South Carolina – City of Columbia Fuel Cell Collaborative was formed by the University of South Carolina, the City of Columbia, EngenuitySC and SCRA to position Columbia, SC as a leader in hydrogen and fuel cell innovation and technology. For more information regarding the Fuel Cell Collaborative, contact Frank Avery at (803) 354-5714, fjavery@engenuitysc.com or visit www.fuelcellcollaborative.com.

For further inquiries, please contact:

Shannon Baxter-Clemmons, Ph. D. – SCHFCA Executive Director
baxterclemmons@schydrogen.org

Anna Newell – SCHFCA Communications
newell@schydrogen.org

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