Malta clean-energy company to move into Schenectady tech park

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bethany Bump

A decade-old clean-energy company that has outgrown its space in Malta will move to Schenectady’s Tech Drive Business Park, bringing 17 jobs with it.

Auterra will lease 21,600 square feet at 2135 Technology Drive from Galesi Group and BBL Construction Services and is planning to add another 1,200 square feet to accommodate its needs. The Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority will provide a $75,000 grant to assist with project costs.

The plan is for Auterra to grow to 30 employees over the next few years.

“We’re excited to be improving our physical space and capabilities with this move,” Auterra President and CEO Eric Burnett said Wednesday in a news release. “The company’s oil upgrading technology is moving into the commercialization phase and having the more robust infrastructure will be very beneficial to accelerating our growth.”

The company was founded in 2003 under the name Applied NanoWorks and worked out of the Saratoga Technology and Energy Park in Malta on developing specialty inorganic compounds. In its early years, the company made dozens of discoveries ranging from the molecular to the nanoscale before eventually patenting a unique platform for creating inorganic-organic molecules in 2007.

Today, Auterra specializes in catalyst and process technology for the purification and upgrading of heavy crude oil and oil distillates. It has been awarded six patents and has another nine under review.

“We are pleased that this growing green energy company is moving to Schenectady County,” said Marty Finn, chairman of the Schenectady County Legislature’s Economic Development and Planning Committee.

Auterra joins a number of other tech businesses in the park, including Fortitech, Astria Solutions, Auto Saver Systems, M&P Labs, Frank Murken Products, Starfire Systems and Pace Analytical.

“With the exception of a very small warehouse space, Technology Drive is now fully occupied,” Metroplex Chairman Ray Gillen said in the release. “Auterra is a great fit with this building and we are pleased that they selected Schenectady County.”