After securing two dozen U.S. Department of Energy projects, Spokane-based Johnston Engineering PLLC is expanding its footprint by building a new 11,500-square-foot headquarters on the West Plains and preparing to increase its staff as clean-energy work accelerates.

Andy Johnston, 46, president and principal engineer at Johnston Engineering, says the new space marks the company’s next phase of growth. In just over a decade, the firm has evolved from a small engineering design shop into a national player taking on projects in energy generation, carbon capture, and hydrogen storage systems. The expansion, he adds, will make room for 35 total employees and help the company meet growing demand from clients in the clean-tech industry.

“We’re like crawling all over each other right now,” Johnston says of the company’s current Trent Avenue operations. “We’ll basically have more space for some light fabrication but mostly project assembly and testing.”

The new warehouse under construction is located at 1621 S. Williams Lane, southwest of the former Triumph Composite Systems Inc. facility in west Spokane. The warehouse is part of a development that was started by Spokane-based Barnes Homes Inc., which does business as Construction Services. 

Johnston owns the southern half of the building, which includes about 6,200 square feet of manufacturing space on the ground floor, and about 5,200 square feet of office space on the first and second floors, he says. The northern half of the structure is owned by Nick Barnes, co-owner of Construction Services, and his partner Brian Offield, president of Spokane Valley-based Gordon Finch Homes Inc.

Johnston Engineering currently operates facilities at 1815 and 1827 E. Trent, in Spokane. Johnston purchased the two buildings in 2022 and remodeled them to accommodate his growing team. Currently, the company has 22 staff comprised of mechanical engineers, designers, project engineers, assembly technicians, and support staff. Depending on the project, Johnston Engineering works with up to 14 contractors, including physicists and experts in electrical, chemical, software, firmware, and electrochemical engineering. About 10 employees were hired this year to help execute the Department of Energy contracts, he says.

Johnston says he hopes to move his staff to the new West Plains facility in February. He intends to keep one warehouse at the Trent facility and will lease the remaining warehouse space.

The company’s growth is being fueled by a steady stream of clean-tech projects, many funded through the U.S. Department of Energy. Johnston says the firm secured 24 Department of Energy contracts late last year, most of which focus on clean energy generation, carbon capture, and hydrogen systems. The company has completed nine of those projects and is working on 15 more, he says.

Most recently, Johnston Engineering kicked off a project with Richland, Washington-based Pacific Northwest National Laboratory focused on hydrogen storage using titanium hydrides. Originally a four-year project, Johnston aims to complete it in two years, he says.

It’s that kind of efficiency that Johnston attributes to his company's ability to win multiple contracts with the Department of Energy. Johnston Engineering initially was given small projects, but once trust was established, the company was awarded more work, he says.

“I think what gives us an advantage on the government side is that we do things with a private industry mindset,” Johnston says. “We’re lean and mean and very efficient. We can get a lot done with a low level of funding on projects.”

In addition to private sector work, the government projects have helped the company increase annual revenue by about 50% over the past year. This year, Johnston anticipates revenue to grow by about 50% again.

However, the Trump administration is actively defunding clean-tech projects, he adds. As federal funding for hydrogen and carbon-capture research tightens, Johnston says the company is shifting more attention toward critical minerals recycling — a market he sees as both urgent and resilient.

Johnston Engineering is working on creating systems that pull rare earth elements such as lithium and gallium, as well as other high-value metals, from mine waste and industrial byproducts. Johnston says that demand for those recovery technologies will only grow as U.S. manufacturers look to secure domestic supply chains for materials used in batteries, semiconductors, and other clean-energy hardware.

“We will position ourselves well for those markets,” Johnston says. “There’s a lot of wasted resources just sitting out there. … There’s a lot of elements out there to be captured and recycled.”

The last time the Journal caught up with Johnston, he was debuting the Helicopter Air Ambulance Backsaver, a medical-device system designed to help hospital and emergency personnel lift patients more safely. Since then, Johnston says the company has continued to refine the device, making design improvements to reduce friction and lower manufacturing costs. The company expects to deliver its first two units later this year, pending final hardware deliveries.

“There’s a big need in the market for this because people are getting injured,” says Johnston, noting that the personal project often takes a back seat to the client work because it is self-funded.

Beyond his own company’s growth, Johnston is working to strengthen the region’s clean-tech and bioscience ecosystem. He currently serves as board chair for Evergreen Bioscience Innovation Cluster, a Spokane-based nonprofit focused on recruiting startups, supporting research, and developing lab space for emerging companies. Earlier this year, Evergreen Bio opened its first wet-lab incubator to give young bioscience ventures access to equipment and space that can be difficult and expensive to secure on their own. Johnston says the goal is to create an environment where innovators can launch and scale locally, rather than leaving the region to find resources elsewhere.

“There’s multiple medical schools now in Spokane. … We should really be spinning out a lot of companies,” Johnston says. “But there’s nowhere for them to go and do work. We’re hoping this will help encourage them to (stay) where there is essentially a low barrier to entry.”