It began, in the words of Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, as “a little candle of an idea.”
On May 3, FuelCell Energy Inc., Dominion Resources Inc. and numerous public officials participated in a ceremonial groundbreaking for the largest fuel cell power project in North America and the second largest in the world.
“You”™re standing in the middle of the largest fuel cell power plant in North America,” FuelCell CEO Arthur “Chip” Bottone proclaimed. “This one particularly works for us, and we”™d like to do more of these.”
Pomp and circumstance aside, work on the 14.9-megawatt project on Railroad Avenue in Bridgeport is well under way after more than a decade of stalled talks and false starts, with FuelCell and Dominion hoping to have the facility up and running by late 2013 or early 2014.
For Bottone, the project ”“ which will supply enough energy to power 15,000 homes ”“ represents the validation of the company”™s efforts at promoting fuel cell generation as the future of renewable energy.
The Danbury company, which manufactures all of its fuel cell power plants in Torrington, has built and operates a portfolio comprising 70 megawatts worldwide.
FuelCell is in the process of ramping up its production rate by 25 percent to meet the increased demand, and has expanded its Torrington staff by 20 percent in the past six months. Its staff of 650 includes 240 workers at its Danbury headquarters and research and development facility, and about 300 workers in Torrington.
Bottone said the Bridgeport project would likely open new doors for the company and for fuel cell technology.
Previously, all of FuelCell”™s plants have been much smaller and have been designed to power individual buildings or complexes. The Bridgeport project is among first projects of its scale that will feed power directly to a utility, he said.
“This is the first utility-scale project in North America. That”™s why this is so important,” Bottone told the Business Journal. “I don”™t know if I could put a dollar figure on its impact but I would go as far as to say these are market-maker events.”
FuelCell representatives noted the advantage of a fuel cell plant in an urban environment. The Bridgeport project covers about two acres, while a 15-megawatt solar photovoltaic system would likely demand about 75 acres of space, they said, adding that fuel cell plants give off virtually no pollutants and that they are quiet enough when running that it’s possible to carry on a normal-volume conversation while standing beside one.
Having Dominion as the project developer and financier lends even more credibility to the plant, Bottone said.
Dominion is one of the nation”™s preeminent energy companies with a portfolio comprising about 27,500 megawatts of generation capacity, but they are just starting to delve into renewable energy technologies.
“They”™re big, they”™ve traditionally not been there, and it was a pretty sizable investment on their part, even by their standards,” Bottone said. “And all of a sudden, I think people look at that and think, they must know something here.”
The plant ”“ which will actually be made up of five 2.8-megawatt fuel cell generators and a turbine that will use waste heat to generate additional energy ”“ is Dominion”™s first fuel cell project.
Dominion has agreed to sell the electricity to Connecticut Light & Power Co. under a 15-year fixed power purchase agreement. The process will also utilize connections with three substations owned by United Illuminating Co.
“This is a Connecticut-built clean energy power system ”¦ for Connecticut residents,” said Paul Ruppert, senior vice president of generation for Dominion, at the groundbreaking ceremony. “For Dominion, it”™s more than that. This power station is another important step in our efforts to identify and develop opportunities to develop electricity from clean energy sources that are reliable and cost effective.”
Bottone said the key to FuelCell”™s growth has been making the process more efficient from a cost standpoint.
“The real commercialization of the company really began about five years ago, six years ago,” Bottone said. At the time, “We were probably at $10,000 or $15,000 a kilowatt. Those plants you saw there today from a product perspective (cost) about $3,000 (a kilowatt).
“It”™s a little bit about engineering and a lot about just producing much more than we used to,” Bottone added.
Bottone said the cost isn”™t likely to continue dropping at that rate, but said, “Our expectation is that we can reduce the cost another 30 percent.”
He said the company is firmly grounded in Connecticut.
“The intellectual property and the smart people are really what got us here, and that for the most part resides in Connecticut,” Bottone said. “It”™s not something you would want to take to a low labor-cost area per say, because the savings really aren”™t there.”
