A year ago, the vacant lot was a postage stamp reminder of
Bridgeport's industrial past. At various times, the nearly 2 acres held
factories owned by Bryant Electric, CBS Corp. and Westinghouse
Electric.
Now, it's home to the second-largest fuel cell park in the world. Completed late last week by FuelCell Energy Inc.,
the largest publicly traded fuel cell manufacturer in the world, the
15-megawatt system is sending enough electricity to power about 15,000
homes. The site, once shot through by more than a century's worth of
industrial contaminants, has become a strong example of how to build new
energy projects, doing so using mostly private capital.
"It is a beautiful facility," Chip Bottone, the Danbury
company's chief executive, said in an interview Thursday. "It is
attracting interest from all over the world," arousing the curiosity of
businesses and public officials from Japan, South Korea and Germany.
The $65 million project ran into its share of obstacles since it was
chosen in a state clean-power program in 2008 called Project 150.
Recession economics made the financing difficult. Technical issues
required reworking certain aspects.
But in December 2012, all the
pieces fell into place. The Dominion power company financed it. The
state's Clean Energy Financing and Investment Authority loaned it $5.8
million. FuelCell Energy built it. Connecticut Light & Power bought
its power, which United Illuminating agreed to deliver. And Bridgeport
welcomed it.
For Bottone, the project is "a win in so many ways."
The power is clean. The project supported Connecticut jobs. It will send
tax money to the city and the state for years. By bringing the source
of electricity closer to where it is consumed, it reduces reliance on
some aspects of the electric grid, which has proved fragile in recent
years.
"This is the model, and we want to build more of these,"
Bottone said. "We built this whole thing and designed it in one year. It
proves to a lot of people that you can do it, and that you can do it in
a short period of time."
The fuel cell park — to be operated and
maintained by FuelCell Energy for 15 years — runs on natural gas,
converting the fuel to hydrogen, which is electrochemically converted
into heat, water and electricity, with only trace amounts of emissions,
the company says. The heat and water, as steam, turn a turbine that
creates additional power. Many have found the technology
attractive because natural gas is cheap, the plant's small footprint
makes it easier to site, and it is a clean power option.
But even major players in the industry, like FuelCell Energy, are still struggling to break even.
"Stationary
fuel cells are still in the early part of the adoption cycle, with
limited availability and affordability," said Kerry-Ann Adamson,
research director with Navigant Research, which analyzes
clean-technology markets. The Danbury company hasn't posted a profit
since going public in 1992, although it predicts that streak will soon
change for the better.
Adamson said that government policy initiatives, like Connecticut's program that helped establish the Bridgeport
project, have increased demand for fuel cells nationally. And demand is
expected to continue to grow. In the next decade, annual sales of fuel
cells will grow to $9 billion from $1.7 billion now, according to
Navigant Research.
The world's largest fuel cell park, also by FuelCell Energy, is in Hwasung City, South Korea.
In September, the company signed a marketing agreement with NRG Energy,
one of the country's largest electric generators and retail electricity
providers, that is expected to generate additional business.
FuelCell
Energy ended its fiscal year with $187.7 million in sales, compared
with $120.6 million in the previous year. Although gross profit
increased, the company still lost money. Net losses were $37.6 million
for the year, or 20 cents a share, compared with the previous year, when
the company lost $38.7 million, or 23 cents a share.
Dominion is selling power from the Bridgeport project to CL&P, a division of Northeast Utilities,
for $89 a megawatt hour. That price will also be subsidized by
renewable energy credits that Dominion will get from the project. Those
are worth about $51 per megawatt hour.
State Energy Commissioner
Daniel C. Esty said the project "highlights Connecticut's new approach
to clean energy, which focuses on using limited ratepayer dollars to
leverage private capital and to get the greatest possible ratepayer
benefit per dollar for public funds expended."
Plainfield Biomass Project
Also
Thursday, another Project 150 clean power project said it was
delivering electricity after reaching "substantial completion." Plainfield
Renewable Energy, a wood-burning biomass project by Virginia-based
Leidos, said that it has been producing enough energy to power 37,000
homes using construction and demolition debris, recycled wood pallets
and wood left from cleared land.
On Monday, the company plans to celebrate the completion of the Norwich Road plant at a ribbon-cutting event, with Leidos executives as well as federal, state and local officials. The
plant has a long-term contract to sell 80 percent of its power to
CL&P, and is seeking a contract for the remaining power through a
recent state-issued request for proposals from biomass and hydropower
projects. In October, Leidos assumed ownership of the plant from Plainfield Renewable Energy LLC through a consensual foreclosure.
http://www.courant.com/business/hc-fuelcell-energy-bridgeport-completion-20140102,0,616340.story
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