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Plug Power opens hydrogen fuel cell facility in Henrietta

Plug Power

A company that makes hydrogen fuel cell products officially opened its new facility in Henrietta on Friday, one which it said will create hundreds of jobs.

The Albany-based company, Plug Power, officially opened its new, $125 million Innovation Center on John Street.

Governor Kathy Hochul said the state-of-the-art facility “will help to further establish New York state as a green energy leader.”

Empire State Development is providing up to $13 million in tax credits, and there is also support from the New York Power Authority, Monroe County, RG&E and Greater Rochester Enterprise.

Plug Power already has operations in the Rochester area, but Daniel O’Connell, who is the general manager of the Henrietta facility said that they need space to grow.

O’Connell said that they manufacture what is known as “green hydrogen“  because it’s made from a renewable electricity source.

“So we're very fortunate here in Rochester, to be able to have a lot of renewable electricity from Niagara Falls, we bring that into our facility here, run it through the reverse of a fuel cell called an electrolyzer. And that splits the water into hydrogen and oxygen. And it makes what we call green hydrogen,” O’Connell said.

Plug Power expects to create about 400 jobs in Henrietta. It already had operations at the Eastman Business Park and in Gates, which will continue.

And recently Plug Power announced it will also have an operation at the Western New York Science, Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park (STAMP)  in Genesee County.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.