Investors were given the opportunity to ask HEC President and founder Ted Hollinger questions about the operation as well as the future of alternative fuel.

The HEC is the world’s only production engine manufacturer for alternative fuel-based engines. The engines can run on hydrogen, gasoline, propane, natural gas or ethanol interchangeably, as well as certain combinations of fuels. Minor adjustments are required to ‘‘retune’’ or change the compatibility of an engine, which, Hollinger said, can be made over the Internet or by phone.

‘‘We anticipated the need,’’ Hollinger said. ‘‘Everybody was out doing research. ... (But) the time for talking was over, we needed to build a product.’’

The current facility will be expanded to approximately 200,000 square feet and will produce about 1,000 engines per month, though Hollinger expects production to increase significantly in the near future.

On May 12, a U.S. and Canadian distribution network was established. However, the company has already been shipping internationally to countries such as Germany, China and India.

‘‘We think that globally we could be somewhere around 25,000 (engines) per year in a few years,’’ said Joe Lewis III, vice president of engine sales. ‘‘World demand is currently about 25,000 a year.’’

The engines will be used in a range of agricultural, industrial and power-generation applications such as engines for trucks, forklifts and power generators. The facility’s own generators give it the ability to continue operations in the event of a blackout.

Lewis added that because their engines are modified versions of traditional gasoline engines, very little new knowledge will be required to fix them.

‘‘It’s a convergence of technologies,’’ he said. ‘‘Everybody knows how to use these engines and everybody knows how to fix (them).’’

Company officials claim that their engines are as efficient as traditional gasoline engines but have the added benefit of reduced emissions and flexibility. When running using hydrogen, emissions are nearly zero.

‘‘He and his colleagues have been thinking about this for 30 years,’’ said Harvey Kaye, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Gulfstream Capital Group, which is the financial advisory group for the company.

‘‘Here we’re bringing the world to Iowa,’’ Kaye said. ‘‘This can really make Iowa the epicenter for solving global warming.’’

Much of the fuel being used in testing engines will be recycled to heat the plant during winter. Approximately five miles of tubing carry hot water — a byproduct of the testing process — through the floor and along the entire length of the facility.

‘‘We have to burn the fuel while testing (the engines), so we might as well reuse it,’’ Hollinger said.

Between 200 and 300 people will be staffed by the company once the expansion is complete

‘‘If we’re going to expand this operation ... we’ll be adding a lot more people in the next few months,’’ Hollinger said.