History

Tecogen was formed in the early 1960's as the R&D/ New Business Center of Thermo Electron Corporation. For the next 20 years, this group performed fundamental and applied research in many energy-related fields to develop new technologies.

During the late 1970s, new federal legislation enabled electricity customers to sell power back to their utility. Thermo Electron recognized an opportunity to merge its technology and know-how, and serve a new market for cogeneration systems. In 1982, the R&D group released its first major product, a 60-kW cogenerator, the first packaged cogeneration unit of its kind. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, air-conditioning and refrigeration products using the same gas engine-driven technology were introduced, beginning with a 150-ton chiller.

In 1987, Tecogen was spun out as a separate entity by Thermo Electron (which is now Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., NYSE:TMO). In 1992, Tecogen became a division of the newly formed Thermo Power Corporation, along with three other Thermo Electron subsidiaries (Crusader Engines, FES, and NuTemp, a 1994 acquisition).

In 2000, Thermo Power was dissolved, and Tecogen was sold to a group of private investors, including Thermo Electron’s original founders, Dr. George Hatsopoulos and John Hatsopoulos. Tecogen is currently a private company with approximately one hundred investors.

Please read about Tecogen’s history of Innovation.