Vilsack said Algona firm is an engine for change!

By TODD DORMAN, Courier Des Moines BureauALGONA --- When Ted Hollinger decided to build engines in an Iowa cornfield, he wanted them to have a name invoking memories of pioneers hitching their future to a team of oxen.And by making "Oxx Power" engines to run on a range of fuels --- including both hydrogen and ethanol --- Hollinger also dreams of unhitching the United States from a future dependence on oil."I'm not sure anyone believed we were going to do this," said Hollinger, just before taking Gov. Tom Vilsack on a tour of his rapidly growing Hydrogen Engine Center. "We wanted to be part of the solution, not part of the problem."He also unveiled the Dana Hollinger Industrial Park, named after his wife and partner who died in September 2005. Ted Hollinger, an Iowa native, wanted to build the facility in Michigan or Ohio, but his wife insisted that Iowa was the best site.
"She was right," Hollinger said.Vilsack then helped Hollinger with an unconventional ribbon cutting. The two men used an oversized wooden scissors to gnaw through a hose attached to a gas pump."We all can take pride in the fact that we are the renewable fuel and energy leader of the United States," Vilsack said, citing Iowa's status as the No. 1 ethanol and biodiesel-producing state and its No. 3 ranking in wind power production. Algona was one stop on a "Changing the Landscape" tour intended to highlight Vilsack's economic record.The Hydrogen Engine Center will build roughly 1,000 internal combustion engines each month that can run on gasoline, ethanol, propane, natural gas or hydrogen. They range in size from a one-cylinder engine to a giant 125 kilowatt industrial generator.The company is working on other products, including engines that run on anhydrous ammonia and other materials."If it can be combusted, we can run the engine on it," Hollinger said.The company is hunting for industrial customers, providing engines to power factory equipment, generators and large vehicles. The center doesn't make automobile or truck engines, but the same technology could be applied to those and other vehicles.Hollinger once designed hydrogen engines for the Ford Motor Co. and for Ballard Power Systems. When those companies opted to bet their money on motors powered by hydrogen fuel cells, Hollinger left to pursue his own cutting-edge ideas.The company expects to sell 10,000 to 15,000 engines next year, according to Joe Lewis III, vice president of engine sales. The plant employs 30 people but its work force is expected to expand."I think we're going to have an impact on the economy here and elsewhere," Hollinger said.That's why state economic development officials awarded the Hydrogen Engine Center a $400,000 forgivable loan through the Iowa Values Fund.Contact Todd Dorman at (515) 243-0138 or at todd.dorman@lee.net.
Related Links