The historic challenge to spin gold from dross has met its match in Bridgeport where waste heat from a United Illuminating Co. power fuel-cell plant will heat water for the University of Bridgeport and for the city”™s downtown buildings.
Another Bridgeport power plant is slated similarly to join the program.
The Bridgeport District Energy project has signed an agreement with UI, “whereby waste heat from a UI fuel cell at Seaside Park will be used to create hot water for the heating of buildings in downtown Bridgeport and the University of Bridgeport campus.”
The project expects to have construction cost estimates within in the next 30 days with a potential construction start in late fall.
NuPower Thermal, the state Legislature-approved thermal carrier for the city of Bridgeport as laid out in 2015, seeks to funnel additional waste heat from the 67 megawatt Wheelabrator facility on Howard Avenue, which since 1988 has each day turned some 2,250 tons of Bridgeport”™s household and business waste into electricity. A letter of intent has been signed toward bringing that deal to fruition.
The statement from NuPower Thermal announcing the heating plan said customers using district energy can reduce their carbon footprint by 80 per cent. “Once the 2.8 megawatt fuel cell is connected to the district heating system the operating efficiency of the fuel cell increases to more than 80 percent,” the statement said. “The higher the operating efficiency of an electrical generator, the less impact on the environment.”
The output from the UI fuel cell will generate most of the heat required to heat the University of Bridgeport campus.
It makes me so happy to see that people care for the environment.