$80M fuel cell project at the former Stanley Works campus in New Britain set to power up in May
NEW BRITAIN — An advanced fuel cell array that could
turbo-charge future manufacturing in New Britain is in its final stages of
testing and could hook up to the power grid as soon as May, according to city
officials.
The 67-fuel cell array — installed outdoors in a dilapidated
section of the Stanley
Works complex at 600 Myrtle St. — awaits final testing and approvals.
Once the $80 million project gets the green light, the fuel cells will power up
to supply up to 20 megawatts of electricity to the larger power grid, said Jack
Benjamin, New Britain’s director of planning and development.
“The fuel cells should be online and functioning as of early
May … and that really signifies the completion of phase one of the project,”
Benjamin said.
The fuel cell array is the first part of a larger plan
including a data center estimated to cost up to $1 billion. The four-part
project has been dubbed the New Britain Energy & Innovation Park and was
initially set to be completed by the end of the decade, although supply chain
issues and a change in fuel cell vendors have slowed the first phase.
Later parts of the project include the data center, rooftop
solar and construction of an "organic rankine cycle system," advanced
technology that converts low-temperature heat sources into electricity. A
state tax break worth $55.2 million over 10 years helped launch the
New Britain Energy & Innovation Park in 2019.
The system that will go online in May consists of fuel cell
units produced by Bloom Energy of San Jose, Calif. The company took over from
original vendor, Doosan Fuel Cell America, a subsidiary of a South Korean
company with a factory in South Windsor. City officials cited supply-chain
delays due to the pandemic in explaining the switch.
New Britain project deploys top tech
Bloom Energy’s fuel cells employ the latest in green energy
innovations and vault the Energy Park to the front of the industry, said Joel
Rinebold, formerly director of energy for the Connecticut Center for Advanced
Technology and now a consultant in the green energy industry.
“New Britain is a great project,” Rinebold said. “It’s using
advanced technology, choosing the fuel cells so that they’re very efficient.”
Reinbold said the project could lead to more advanced
manufacturing in New Britain and across the state, even as Connecticut has lost
its primacy in the supply side of the fuel cell industry and state
companies have cut jobs due to worldwide competition.
Fuel cell usage is ramping up again worldwide after pandemic
delays and will likely gain new importance as a way to store energy and
hydrogen produced by wind and solar generation, Reinbold added.
“Fuel cells are the perfect machine, the perfect technology,
to take that hydrogen and turn it into kilowatt-hours that people can use,”
Reinbold said.
Next stage seeks to capture heat
The next phase of the larger New Britain Energy &
Innovation Park is under way, Benjamin said, with project officials working
with Bloomfield’s R&D Dynamics to capture the ambient heat generated by the
fuel cells and using it to generate power as part of a cutting-edge
organic rankine cycle system.
“We’re trying to source grants to help them deploy one of
their basically first models onto the site,” Benjamin said of R&D Dynamics’
technology.
New Britain officials are also in the process of sourcing an
operator for the planned data center, Benjamin said. “It’s pretty much in line
with sort of where we figured we would be at this stage of the game,” he
said.
For the City of New Britain, the project is expected to
complement the recent
surge in housing development in the downtown, which is an easy walking
distance from Stanley Works, Benjamin said.
Although only a handful of people will be employed at the
fuel cell array, the city expects hundreds of jobs to be generated by the
Energy & Innovation Park when it is completed.
“This is really a sister project to all of this sort of
urban redevelopment and production of hopefully a 16-hour-a-day downtown that
we’re working on,” Benjamin said. “We’re bringing hundreds of units to downtown
New Britain, many of which we expect to be young professionals working in the
tech sector and hopefully working on at the site.”
East Norwalk train station, East Avenue closure begins Monday. Here's what to know
NORWALK — Both the East
Norwalk Train Station and a section of East
Avenue will be closed for three weeks starting Monday due to
construction work related to the Walk
Bridge replacement project.
Beginning on March
11 and lasting until March 31, no Metro-North trains will stop at the
East Norwalk station while Connecticut’s Department of Transportation crews
work to install a new underdrain system under its northern parking lot.
“To ensure the safety of the workers, the East Norwalk Train
Station will be temporarily closed for three weeks,” Benjamin Limmer, the DOT’s
bureau chief of public transportation, said in
a statement. “We encourage customers to utilize the South Norwalk and
Westport stations while construction activities are underway.”
With the train station closed, the city of Norwalk and DOT
helped arrange for Frontier
to install new utility conduits under East Avenue during those three
weeks as well.
“The Frontier utility installation is part of the advance utility work to underground utilities in the area in preparation for the new East Avenue Railroad bridge replacement and roadway improvements,” DOT’s announcement states.
East Avenue will be closed between Fort Point Street and
Winfield Street for crews to work uninterrupted. City officials said the
three-week closure will allow Frontier to finish the project in less than half
the time than was originally planned.
During this closure, area traffic will be diverted to Fort
Point Street and Van Zant Street.
East Norwalk train station commuters can take the train from
either the South Norwalk train station or the Westport train station.
“The Norwalk Transit District will provide a free shuttle
service, starting March 11, that will operate Monday-Friday during the
three-week closure,” said Michelle Woods Matthews, Norwalk’s director of
communications. “During the three-week closure, the shuttle will travel to and
from East Norwalk, at the Roger Square Norwalk Transit District bus shelter,
and the South Norwalk train station in the morning and afternoon, evening.”
Shuttles
will be timed with the Metro-North train schedule.
“Additionally, East Norwalk station parking permit holders
can access the South Norwalk Train Station Garage at no additional cost during
the three-week closure,” Woods Matthews said. “Parking permits will not be
honored at the Westport station.”
The East
Norwalk improvements are part of the $1 billion project to replace
the 128-year-old Walk Bridge that connects millions of people to the
Northeast train corridor. As a part of the work, East Norwalk will have a new
train station along with other rail improvements that will cut travel time down
on the New Haven Line of Metro-North.
CT towns tell legislative committee they want local control over the building of solar facilities
People from rural
towns across the state with concerns that the Connecticut Siting Council has
legal jurisdiction over the location of solar power facilities, rather than
the municipalities, are hoping new legislation could give them more control of
their land.
About 70
residents and officials testified to that hope on Thursday during a Connecticut
General Assembly’s Energy and Technology Committee public hearing on eight
proposed bills pertaining to renewable energy sources. Of particular interest
to many who testified is HB 5361, which would give municipalities the
opportunity for local control if that town was within a five-mile radius of a
project greater than 100 megawatts.
The bill was passed by the state House of Representatives
last year but did not clear the Senate. It was written by Rep. Jaime Foster,
D-Ellington, who also serves as vice chairwoman of the Energy and Technology
Committee.
Rep. Carol Hall, R-Enfield, spoke in favor of the bill
on behalf of towns she represents in the 59th District. East Windsor has been
fighting against a fourth
solar facility for the town that's proposed for Thrall Road, and Enfield
is in the process of applying
for intervenor status to fight against a facility proposed for Town Farm Road.
About 30 percent of the solar grid in Connecticut is between
East Windsor, Enfield, and Ellington, Hall said.
"It's quite mind-boggling that so much of our farmland
is disappearing," she said, adding that one of Enfield's solar farms
took up an entire forest in town. "When towns have done what I consider
their fair share, local control should take over."
The state should look to town land-use boards at a certain
point to determine how many facilities can come into a given community, Hall
said. "We require plans of conservation and development be submitted every
10 years that speak to where these projects should be placed but,
unfortunately, the Siting Council does not take that into account."
There's a need to recognize the importance of placement and
creation of solar farms to ensure that each community is sharing in the
responsibility of a greener future, Hall said.
East Windsor First Selectman Jason Bowsza said his town has
done its part toward large-scale renewable energy projects. The town already
has two solar farms in operation and a third one under construction. He
appeared before the Siting Council in September and said a fourth facility by
Verogy Holdings LLC would gobble up "prime farmland" and is
contradictory to the town's plan of conservation and development that he said
seeks to preserve the “rural, village, and business character” of the town.
That project has been approved by the Siting Council and is
under appeal by the town, Bowsza said.
On Thursday, Bowsza testified in support of the HB 5361,
saying there are ways for the state to improve green energy by either mandating
or incentivizing structures in parking lots, along highways, on commercial
roofs, schools, and state or municipal buildings. The panels may not on their
own be 100 megawatts but, if enough are built, it could add up to a lot, he
said. This could be done instead of "leveraging renewable energy goals
against farmland preservation goals," he said.
"We are trying to do what we can to balance the need
for solar in the community but the Siting Council is not listening,"
Bowsza said. A small handful of communities should not be asked to carry
the weight of renewable energy targets, he said, just as a "handful of
communities successfully pushed back on the siting of trash-to-energy projects
in the early 2000s." In that case, Bowsza said, it was urban centers that
were asked to do more than their share and now the burden is being pushed on
more rural communities.
Ellington supports the bill, along with a revision that
would require any applicant to comply with all local regulations regarding the
installation of a facility, according to written testimony by Town
Administrator Matthew Reed. The town had expected a solar
facility be built at Ellington Airport that instructors and students
at Connecticut Parachutists Inc. opposed, saying it could put its instructors
and clients at risk.
The proposal was not approved after a tie vote by the Siting
Council, but Reed said some residents are concerned about a large tract of land
in the area of Abbott and Crane roads that they say may be offered as space for
a solar facility.
Enfield resident Zach Zannoni, who attended the hearing in
person, submitted written testimony, saying that the current process for
approval of solar farms in north central Connecticut exacerbates an already
growing problem of overdevelopment of agricultural land. He agreed with many
other speakers who said it is inequitable to have a small number of communities
share the majority of burden for development of solar facilities.
"Additionally, I am incredibly cognizant of the fact
that the vast majority of this development has occurred in working-class,
blue-collar communities," Zannoni said. "Our state's most affluent
towns are simply not bearing this reality so this, at its foundation, is an
issue of equality."
As a fifth-generation resident of Enfield who has families
with deep agricultural roots in the town and neighboring East Windsor, Zannoni
said he takes agricultural preservation seriously. He views the long-term
preservation and expansion of the region's agricultural heritage as
"quintessential" to its success.
Others testified in favor of another bill that would
require at least two members of the public serving on the Siting Council to be
experienced in the field of ecology and at least one experienced in electric
transmission infrastructure. That bill also asks that no more than one council
member have a past or present affiliation with any utility regulatory agency or
own, operate, control, or be contracting with a hazardous waste facility.
Fairfield is facing a contentious
United Illuminating proposal to build steel monopoles up to 195 feet
tall throughout Fairfield and part of Bridgeport. A version of the project
earned approval from the Siting Council and will likely face an upcoming appeal
from Fairfield.
"What I have heard from my community loud and clear is
that we actually want an electric future, we want a planet we can inhabit, we
want clean air to breathe — our health actually depends on it — but we need to
ensure we're making that transition in a way that's not destructive to our
communities," Rep.
Jennifer Leeper, D-Fairfield, said last week.
Residents and officials from Fairfield said on Thursday they
want a more transparent process and confidence that members of the Siting
Council are not beholden to Wall Street.
"The Siting Council has a very important task to do
and, to some degree, needs autonomy to do that work," said Sen.
Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield. "Nevertheless, the composition and expertise
of the council is important to provide more accountability, transparency, and a
better decision-making process with checks and balances."
Deteriorating bridge over Sasco Creek in Westport, Fairfield to be replaced
WESTPORT — Come 2025, Westport should get a new bridge
over Sasco Creek.
The current bridge, which was built around 1965, starts at
the intersection of Old Road and Wakeman Lane and has
fallen into disrepair, the state Department of Transportation has
determined.
With a positive report from the Planning and Zoning
Commission this week, the project to replace it can move forward.
The bridge project over the creek, sometimes called Sasco
Brook, is being done in conjunction with the Town of Fairfield, Westport Town
Engineer Keith Wilberg said, since Wakeman Lane leads into the neighboring
town. Fairfield is going through its own permitting for the project.
The bridge is made of iron grates; the deck was rebuilt in
2002, Wilberg said.
"What that means, basically, is they don't build
bridges like this anymore," he said.
Multiple DOT reports from 2016 to 2022 showed failing grades
on various items including the superstructure.
"This bridge has been on the radar some time,"
Wilberg said.
DOT recommends a full bridge replacement, Wilberg said.
The state has a pre-approved engineer to design the bridge at no cost to the
town.
Currently, Old Road and Wakeman Lane are skewed — they
don't quite line up with the bridge nor each other. The project will straighten
out the minor geometry, Wilberg said, which will make the lanes wider — 24 feet
instead of the current 16. Wilberg said the new bridge will be similar to
Bayberry Lane's bridge, made of concrete with an open bridge rail. It won't
have lines painted on it but should be wide enough for pedestrians, he said.
"As a pedestrian, I don't know if I'd feel safe going
over the bridge now, but I'd feel a lot safer with eight more feet there,"
he said.
The bridge is also set to be raised about eight inches so
there is room for drainage, Wilberg added. Currently, water goes over top the
bridge if there is six or more inches of rain at a time. He said the town
rarely sees eight inches.
During construction, traffic will be rerouted
to Bulkley Avenue, down Post Road and up Hulls Highway. There's
construction on Bulkley that should be completed by next spring, Wilberg
said.
The bridge work could start in spring 2025, Wilberg
said, and will take until about that November.
With Planning and Zoning on board, the approvals will be
sent to the state and Fairfield's design engineers, and then will need CTDOT
and Army Corps of Engineer approvals.
Cost of the project is set about $3 million, with 80 percent
paid by the state and 20 percent shared by Westport and Fairfield, Wilberg
said. Fairfield may pay more than 10 percent since their population is greater
than Westport's.
Typically with a project like this, it would have to be
reviewed by the Historic District Commission for a demolition delay. But there
is an exception when a project can become dangerous, Planning and Zoning
Director Mary Young said, so it doesn't have to go before that board.
7 things to know next week in Meriden, Wallingford, Southington, Cheshire
Things to know next week include possible
action on affordable housing plans in Wallingford, tax incentives for a new
hotel in Cheshire and $15 million in road and bridge improvements in
Southington.
A little
league field proposal for Community Lake Park in Wallingford is also set for
discussion.
Here's our list of seven things to know in the coming week.
1. Affordable housing development in Yalesville
The Wallingford Planning and Zoning Commission could
act on
a site plan application to build 22 units of housing with a parking
lot at 898 Church St. in Yalesville. The application was
filed under Connecticut's 8-30g statute, which stipulates that developments
with 30 percent of its units deemed affordable can only be denied under limited
criteria.
The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday in council chambers of Town Hall.
2. Hotel tax incentives in Cheshire
The Town Council budget committee is scheduled to meet at
6:30 p.m. Tuesday to consider an application to build a Homewood Suites in the
tax incentive district. The meeting in Town Hall Room 207/209 is followed by
the regular meeting, where the council could act on the application.
The council will also hold a public hearing on an increase
to the FY 2023 Mixville Open Space and Trails Capital Appropriation
from $150,000 to
$410,064 for installation of a boardwalk, ramps, and sidewalks to enhance
accessibility at Mixville Park.
3. $15M for road, bridge projects in Southington
The Town Council is scheduled to meet 7 p.m. on
Monday and will hold a public hearing on authorizing $15 million for road
and bridge improvements followed by possible action. The meeting will take
place at the Municipal Center on North Main Street.
4. Wallingford Little League field proposal
The Parks and Recreation Commission is set to meet at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday at 6 Fairfield Blvd in Room 4. The agenda includes a Wallingford Little League Community Lake field proposal and a project update from the trails work group.
5. Highway interchange project in Meriden
Construction will continue on
phase one of the Interstate 91, Interstate-691 interchange project from
7 a.m. to 3 p.m. next week.
Work will entail: Building the sound barrier wall embankment
along the I-91 off ramp to Route 66; Drainage work in the sound barrier wall
area; I-691 east parapet modifications; Widening of I-91 north near the
I-91 bridge over Baldwin Avenue etc. There will be no planned detours. For more
information go to the state Department of Transportation project
update website.
6. Technology, train station reuse in Wallingford
The Town Council is scheduled to meet Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
at Wallingford Town Hall. The agenda includes an update on
plans to study and upgrade town technology and an update on the
request for proposals on
how to reuse the town's historic train station.
7. Cheshire school projects
Top of Form
The Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public
hearing on the site
plan to build a new Norton School on the existing school property on
North Brooksvale Road. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at
Cheshire Town Hall. During the regular meeting, the commission is also slated
to consider approval of
a new north end elementary school on Marion Road.
Legislature seeks data center study; Concerns raised over delays
Erica E. Phillips
Connecticut leaders are weighing the stress that massive
data centers could place on the region’s power grid against the economic
opportunities they offer, as rapid advancements in technology accelerate demand
for data processing capacity.
A proposal to study how large-scale data centers might
affect the reliability of the state’s electric grid is drawing opposition from
those who say it would delay critical development.
The General Assembly’s Energy and Technology Committee heard
public testimony Thursday on the proposal. The legislation would require the
Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to conduct the evaluation with the
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the Office of Consumer
Counsel and ISO-New England, the nonprofit corporation that manages the
region’s power grid. It calls for the effort to be completed by July 1 of this
year.
Leaders with DEEP and the state’s Department of Economic and
Community Development took opposing stances on the measure.
“The demand and need for data centers is expanding
significantly to keep pace with the needs of AI expansion and may constitute
approximately 8% of U.S. energy consumption by 2030,” DEEP Commissioner Katie
Dykes told the committee, expressing her agency’s support for the bill, S.B.
299.
“It’s really important to have the right framework to ensure
that there’s equitable deployment of this kind of demand that doesn’t shift any
costs — or increase costs — to other ratepayers and is harmonized with the need
to maintain reliability of the grid,” Dykes said.
In written testimony, DECD Commissioner Dan O’Keefe urged
the committee to shift the focus of the study.
“Instead of studying the impact of data centers on the grid,
the state [should] instead study ways to support data centers on our grid to
leverage the greatest economic benefit they enable,” he wrote.
Fostering more data center development is critical, O’Keefe
argued. “We cannot afford to have them built first elsewhere, as these new
computing technologies are important for our economic future,” he wrote. “It is
in the states and communities where these data centers are ultimately built
that the greatest economic benefits will accrue. We need that to happen here,
in CT, and there is a limited window of opportunity in which to act.”
Three years ago, the legislature moved with urgency to pass
a bill creating tax incentives to encourage data center development in the
state. The program waives sales and property taxes for 20 years on data centers
that invest at least $200 million in the state — or just $50 million if the
facility is located within a state-designated enterprise zone. The tax
exemptions may be extended up to 30 years with a larger investment.
Since the incentive was signed, a small number of developers
have taken initial steps to begin data center construction in a few Connecticut
towns. One major project — a hyperscale, 300-megawatt development on the site
of the Millstone nuclear power station in Waterford — is closest to breaking
ground. The developer behind that project, NE Edge, signed what’s known as a
“host fee agreement” with the town last March, promising to pay a fee of $231
million over 30 years in lieu of property taxes, as provided for in the 2021
legislation.
The project consists of two 2-story data center facilities
capable of processing the massive amounts of data required by AI and other
advanced technologies. NE Edge would purchase power directly from Dominion
Energy in a “behind-the-meter” agreement that would significantly reduce energy
costs for the data centers.
NE Edge founder Thomas Quinn said if the legislature calls
for a study now, it could significantly delay the project and lead to
Connecticut potentially losing out to other states that are racing to build
hyperscale data centers. (Quinn was closely involved in proposing and
advocating for the 2021 legislation.)
“The market is ready for an AI boost, and we want to get
this done while we’re still in the game,” Quinn said.
Quinn testified on S.B. 299 before the Energy and Technology
Committee late Thursday, describing a wide range of economic benefits the
Millstone project would generate and urging lawmakers not to approve the study.
He noted that he’d discussed with DECD the potential for the data centers to
provide services to the state at a discounted rate.
“This just slows us down for absolutely no reason,” Quinn
told the committee.
S.B. 299 also drew opposition from the Connecticut State
Building Trades Council, which has signed a project labor agreement with NE
Edge for the construction of the data centers, according to written testimony.
Advocates from the Sierra Club, the Connecticut League of
Conservation Voters and Save the Sound offered testimony in favor of the
proposed study.
Lori Brown, executive director of CT League of Conservation
Voters, encouraged the committee to expand the study’s scope.
“Data centers are one of the most energy-intensive building
types, consuming 10 to 50 times the energy per floor space of typical
commercial buildings,” Brown said. “We’re asking that the environmental and
climate impacts be part of any study that you do to assess the impacts of data
centers on the regional electric grid.”
Sen. Norm Needleman, D-Essex, who co-chairs the committee,
said the legislation was specifically drawn up with the NE Edge project in
mind. He said he was concerned with one technical aspect of the development:
that the data center, powered directly by Millstone, would at times draw on the
regional grid as its backup power source.
“My concern is not with having a data center,” Needleman
said, reminding those at the hearing that he’d shepherded the 2021 legislation
through the legislature. “It’s with having a very significant sized data center
behind the meter at a nuclear power plant — backed up by the grid — and what
the potential impact is.”
He said later: “I just want to make sure, as chair of the
Energy Committee, that we don’t screw up the grid.”
Waterbury in line for $3.1M grant to cleanup polluted factory site
State officials are offering the City of Waterbury $3.1
million to help clear away a ruined industrial complex at the site of the
former Waterbury Button Co. factory along South Main Street, one of the city’s
worst industrial eyesores.
The city’s Board of Aldermen, on Monday, is expected to sign
off on conditions of the $3.1 million grant through the state’s Urban Sites
Remedial Action Program.
The bond funding can be used to investigate and clean the
2.5-acre, city-owned property at 835 South Main St., preparing it for
redevelopment, according to a memo to aldermen from Waterbury Development Corp.
Executive Director Thomas Hyde.
The site was a center of manufacturing that used various
metals and plastics from 1812 into the 1970s. A preliminary investigation in
2016 identified a dozen contaminants, including PCBs, volatile organic
compounds, lead, mercury and others.
The industrial complex on the site had been falling apart
for decades before a 2023 fire forced an emergency demolition of remaining
structures.
The sign-off by the Board of Aldermen, on Monday, will allow
Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski to close on the state funding.
Hyde, on Friday, said the state grant is expected to be
largely spent on finishing demo work and clearing debris from the site. The
city will either seek additional grants or a partnership with a developer to
clean polluted soils, he said.
Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski said the site could
eventually host commercial development, housing or a mix of uses. But it will
take time and additional infusions of funding, he acknowledged.
Over the past decade, Waterbury has spent a great deal of
energy tackling its backlog of abandoned industrial sites. These large
industrial complexes, once engines of prosperity, had become unsightly
firetraps that attracted illegal dumping and other crimes, including arson. The
city has made much headway in clearing blighted structures. It has proven a
challenge to get many back into productive use.
"The key is to be persistent and patient and keep your
eye on the goal," Pernerewski said.
Clearing the site will help a separate project to straighten
the nearby intersection of Washington Avenue, Washington Street and South Main
Street. That project will push a section of Washington Street through 835 South
Main St. This will allow large trucks to negotiate the intersection and
aid the city's efforts to find a new user for the former Anamet
manufacturing site, which is located at one corner of the intersection.
Developers seek land-use approvals as massive Enfield All Sports Village plan progresses
The developers of a proposed sports complex on the former
MassMutual campus in Enfield are seeking local land-use approvals as they move
the project forward.
Fast Track Realty LLC has submitted project plans to the
Enfield Inland Wetlands Agency for the ambitious All Sports Village, a
multi-building sports complex that would feature indoor and outdoor fields and
courts, and a hotel, a family entertainment center and restaurants
and bars on nearly 70 acres at 85 and 100 Bright Meadow Blvd. The parcel
at 113 Brainard Road is also part of the project.
The buildings on-site are currently vacant and feature
430,000 square feet of space, including a small day care facility that will be
torn down. Several fields will be built on areas that are now parking
lots.
The site is near Interstate 91 and Route 5, close to
Brainerd Park and land owned by the Connecticut Water Co. The wetlands agency
will continue to review the plan application at its next meeting later this
month.
The project, originally pitched more than a year ago, has
gone through several plan adjustments, including an approved zone change, but
remains relatively intact and on track, said Andy Borgia of Fast Track.
He said it’s a complex project and his team is continuing to
work through the proper channels. Plans call for improvements to existing
buildings and constructing a new basketball building where the day care is, as
well as a new maintenance building.
Borgia said the development will create hundreds of jobs and
generate economic growth for the area through taxes and potential new
developments around the sports complex.
The full plan will go to the Planning and Zoning Commission
after wetlands, Borgia said.
New N.Y. offshore wind project would bring more work to New London
Greg Smith
The state of New York has conditionally awarded one of two
offshore wind projects to Ørsted and Eversource, a move that could translate
into more activity at New London’s State Pier.
New York announced on Feb. 29 as part of its latest wind
solicitation that it had chosen to negotiate with Equinor Wind US LLC for the
816-megawatt Empire Wind project and Ørsted and Eversource for the 924-megawatt
Sunrise Wind, a wind farm capable of powering up to 600,000 homes. The project
is located 30 miles east of Montauk Point.
Ulysses B. Hammond, executive director of the Connecticut
Port Authority, said New York’s choice of Sunrise Wind was promising news for
the region and state.
Work at State Pier associated with Sunrise Wind would mean
the assembly and marshaling of an additional 84 turbines right behind
Revolution Wind's 65-turbine project, Hammond said. He said that means “a
steady flow of economic benefits and family-sustaining jobs for the next three
to four years before any new and anticipated business comes knocking on our
door. ”
“Moreover, this announcement reaffirms and validates
Connecticut's strategy to partner with Ørsted to leverage their investment in a
state asset and capitalize on their pipeline of projects for the benefit of our
residents and small businesses,” Hammond said about Sunrise Wind.
Both companies involved in New York’s recent offshore wind
proposals were allowed to rebid the projects in consideration of financial woes
in the offshore wind industry last year. Some offshore wind projects were
canceled and others allowed to exit power purchase agreements or rebid projects
to account for increased costs associated with supply chain issues, inflation
and higher interest rates. Ørsted, for example, last year canceled development
of two projects, Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2 in New Jersey.
If Sunrise Wind comes to fruition, it would be the third and
largest offshore wind project to be assembled at State Pier, where work just
wrapped up on Ørsted and Eversource’s South Fork Wind, a smaller 12-turbine
wind farm in New York.
"The recent selection of Ørsted and Eversource’s
updated Sunrise Wind project bid by the State of New York signifies further
near-term momentum for the U.S. offshore wind market, with Connecticut and
State Pier playing an important role in bringing the project life,“ said Justin
May, a spokesman for the Ørsted/Eversource partnership.
“Sunrise Wind will follow Revolution Wind turbine marshaling
at the port — slated to commence this spring — and means even more local
economic benefits and jobs on the horizon for the state," May said.
Revolution Wind, the first offshore wind farm to supply
power to Connecticut, is a 704-megawatt project with 65 turbines that will
bring 304 megawatts to Connecticut and 400 megawatts to Rhode Island.
Ørsted said it planned to start finalizing agreements with
New York’s energy agency, New York State Energy Research and Development
Authority, and work towards a contract for Sunrise Wind. Ørsted has said it
anticipates the project to be operational in 2026 but is still working to
obtain final federal permits for the project.
“The final investment decision on Sunrise Wind is expected
to be made in the second quarter of 2024,” Ørsted said in a statement.
In January, Ørsted announced it had signed an agreement to
acquire Eversource’s 50% ownership in Sunrise Wind. Eversource has previously
announced it was exiting the offshore wind business but said recently the
Sunrise project would create hundreds of jobs building the project’s onshore
transmission system.
“We’re ready to build on the foundation we’ve laid with New
York’s first offshore wind project, South Fork Wind, while delivering
significantly more jobs, local supply chain and community investments and
renewable power for New Yorkers,” David Hardy, executive vice president and CEO
of Ørsted Region Americas.
A project in Mass. tests a future for gas utilities without fossil fuels
On a warm morning last August, a small crew of construction workers drove a 30-foot tall drill through the surface of a parking lot in Framingham. As the drill bit, which was cooled by a steady stream of water, broke through the asphalt and ground through the rocky subsurface, it sent a stream of mud spewing from the hole.
Shouting over the noise, Eric Bosworth, a senior program
manager in Eversource’s clean technologies department, said the drill would
eventually bore 650 feet into the earth.
"This is just like drilling a water well," he
said. "The only difference is they’re doing it at an angle."
Over the course of several months, Eversource workers would
dig 88 holes at the site as part of a groundbreaking clean energy pilot project
known as a “networked geothermal system.” When the system is up and running later this spring, it
will deliver climate-friendly heating and cooling to 37 residential and
commercial buildings in the area.
While this technology isn’t new, this is the first time a
gas company is building one. And if it’s financially and logistically
successful, environmentalists hope it can provide a business model for
other utilities to wean themselves off of fossil fuels.
The pilot will run for two years, and Eversource predicts it
will reduce customer utility bills and slash carbon emissions.
To understand how a networked geothermal system works, it
helps to think of the earth as a big thermal battery. A few hundred feet below
ground, the temperature is a constant 55 degrees Fahrenheit. By drilling down
to that depth and looping water-filled pipes through the holes, Eversource can
pull heat from the ground to warm buildings in the winter, and send heat back
below the ground for cooling in the summer.
“At a very high level, this system is basically just a
series of pipes and holes that’ll be used to move heat energy around the
neighborhood,” Bosworth said.
The magic ingredient to this is an appliance called a
geothermal — or ground-source — heat pump, which runs on electricity and uses
condensers and pumps to move heat around. Your window air conditioning unit and
refrigerator are heat pumps, for instance.
But unlike those appliances, which exchange heat with the
surrounding air, a geothermal heat pump extracts or deposits heat into the
ground. They use far less energy than traditional fossil fuel or electric
options, making them the most efficient technology on the market to heat and
cool buildings.
Geothermal heat pumps can be used in individual buildings,
such as a home or school, or they can be connected — “networked” —
together by underground pipes, which is what Eversource is doing. When this
happens, they become even more efficient and reliable because the buildings in
the network can actually share heat too.
“Framingham was perfect for this [system] because we have
commercial buildings nearby, a school nearby. We have residents. They can all
connect together and share load and it allows for extremely efficient system,”
Bosworth said. He added that the system is designed to be expanded, meaning
that in the future, more buildings could be added to the network.
A new business model for gas utilities
There are several networked geothermal systems around the
country, mostly on college campuses or in new housing developments. But a gas
utility building one is a new frontier — and one with wide-reaching
implications for the clean energy transition.
“It's a powerful story: a gas utility building a transition
off gas,” said Zeyneb Magavi, a scientist and co-executive director of HEET, a Boston-based nonprofit
climate solutions incubator.
Magavi and her colleague Audrey Schulman came up with the
idea of the “gas to geo evolution” several years ago after Magavi realized how
expensive it would be to install a geothermal heat pump in her home — just
drilling the borehole in her backyard could cost upwards of $40,000, she said.
The high price tag got her thinking. What if she could get
her utility to build the system? In fact, what if she could get her utility to
build a whole network of geothermal heat pumps for the neighborhood?
“By going to a utility scale, we can cover the costs of the
infrastructure and the transition to this safer form of heating and cooling
without leaving anyone behind,” she said. It’s “an opportunity that actually is
win-win” for utilities and our climate goals.
HEET pitched the idea to Eversource in 2017
and executives there immediately recognized the potential
opportunity. In a state like Massachusetts that’s phasing out fossil fuels to
tackle climate change, networked geothermal systems give gas utilities like
Eversource a growth opportunity and place in the clean energy transition.
That's because there’s a lot of overlap between building and
operating a networked geothermal system and a natural gas pipeline system. Gas
utilities are already pros are digging holes and laying pipes. Plus, they own a
lot of underground right-of-ways and have the ability to spread the costs of an
expensive project over several decades, which allows everyone to access energy
at a relatively affordable price.
The Framingham project has people at Eversource thinking
differently about the company, said Nikki Bruno, the utility's vice president
of clean technologies.
“We [started] saying, ‘Hey, geez, we're a thermal utility.’
We don't just do gas, we do other things as well,” she said. “We’re setting
ourselves up so we can manage how we get to the future.”
Utility-led networked geothermal could also help the
state manage the transition to the clean energy future. Currently,
buildings emit about 35% of planet-warming emissions in
Massachusetts, primarily through fossil-fuel based heating systems. By 2050, the state’s climate plan calls for eliminating
nearly all emissions from residential and commercial buildings.
Meeting this target will require the widespread deployment
of heap pumps — which won't be easy or cheap. But Bruno said utilities are
in a unique position to help convert entire neighborhoods to cleaner heating
sources at once, potentially speeding up the work while also ensuring that
low-income residents aren’t the only ones left relying on an aging gas pipeline
system that’s increasingly expensive to maintain.
Networked geothermal, Bruno of Eversource emphasized, is a
clean energy and environmental justice strategy.
Still, natural gas utilities can’t just build networked
geothermal systems whenever they want. Their legal mandate is to provide
natural gas, so delivering a different source of energy requires state
permission.
In Massachusetts, that approval came in 2021, when the
Department of Public Utilities issued an order allowing them to pursue pilot
programs. In addition to Eversource’s project in Framingham, National Grid is
working on pilots in Lowell and Boston. Others are likely to follow.
The concept is spreading beyond Massachusetts, too. To
date, three other states — New York, Colorado and Minnesota
— have also allowed or required their gas utilities to pilot projects. Many
more states are likely to do the same this legislative session. (In some
states, like New York, utilities are able to pilot a variety of so-called “thermal energy networks.” These projects could include
networked geothermal systems, but they could also be designed to exchange heat
with other things, like a body of water or an underground subway system.)
“There are seeds of a new energy system growing across the
country,” Magavi said.
A 'no-brainer' for some gas utilities
When Morgan Hood, manager of innovative products and
services at VGS, a gas utility in Vermont, learned about Eversource’s pilot in
Framingham a few years ago, she started to get really excited. The company
was already exploring low-carbon ways to diversify its offerings, like helping
customers install heat pumps and increase energy efficiency. Networked
geothermal sounded like another great option to pursue.
“The business model, the financial model, the scalability is
huge,” she said. “It seems like a no-brainer to me.”
Then, one day, she ended up talking to a woman at NW
Natural, a gas utility in Oregon, who was also interested in the opportunities
networked geothermal projects could afford her company. It felt like kismet.
“It was at that moment where we realized that we were two
separate utilities but we had such such similar goals, and we had such similar
— and relatively steep — learning curves ahead of us,” Hood said.
The two wondered if other gas utilities were interested — or
at least curious — about networked geothermal, and in 2022, they launched the
Utility Networked Geothermal Collaborative to help utilities share information,
evaluate business models and discuss state policies and pilot projects.
Hood said she expected a handful of utilities to
join, but the group quickly grew to 23 gas utility members, including some
big companies like Avangrid, Southern Company and Dominion Energy.
None of this is to say that gas utilities are ready to throw
away their current business model and go all renewable — in fact, Hood said
there are plenty of utilities out there who have no interest in geothermal
technology and plan to double-down on natural gas.
Still, for many environmentalists, the fact that some gas
industry players are discussing networked geothermal is heartening. Across
the country, various gas companies have fought against building electrification policy.
“I think it’s an incredible opportunity,” said Nicole Abene,
senior legislative and regulatory manager for New York at the Building Decarbonization
Coalition, an environmental non-profit focused on making buildings more
climate friendly. “It gets us to a decarbonized future while keeping jobs,
[promoting] environmental justice and making sure that utilities can still
operate.”
Reducing demand on the grid
As cities and states across the country work to slash carbon
emission by “electrifying everything” — homes, vehicles, industry — networked
geothermal projects offer another really important benefit: They will
dramatically reduce the amount of new electrical infrastructure the
country needs to meet this demand.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Energy released a report which found that by 2050, wide-scale
deployment of geothermal heat pumps could eliminate the need for up to 43,000
miles of high-voltage transmission lines and 410 gigawatts of electrical
generation. (For context, the U.S. had about 1,160 gigawatts of utility-scale generation capacity
in 2022.)
Building fewer power lines and massive renewable projects
like wind and solar farms saves everyone money and could mean less headache —
and controversy — over where to site infrastructure. What’s more, a critical
mass of home and business owners switching to geothermal heat pumps could
prevent seven gigatons of carbon from being released into the atmosphere by
mid-century.
These numbers are impressive, and they don’t even take into
account the extra efficiencies and savings of a network of geothermal heat
pumps, said Sean Porse, the data modeling analysis program manager at the
Department of Energy's geothermal technologies office.
“Thermal energy networks offer an amazing opportunity to
decarbonize, and ease our pathway to achieving a decarbonized grid,” he said.
Networked geothermal projects won't work everywhere; there
are some places in the country where it wouldn’t make sense to build a network,
like rural communities or areas with permafrost. Despite no formal studies
regarding scalability, several experts argue that, in general, anywhere it
makes financial sense to connect homes to natural gas pipelines likely has the
right density and ground conditions for networked geothermal.
Pilot projects like the one in Framingham will help the
industry figure out what it costs to build these systems in various locations
and how feasible they are to scale, said Amanda Kolker, the National Renewable
Energy Lab’s laboratory program manager for geothermal.
“We have a lot of models and theories telling us what this
is going to do. But how does it actually work in practice, right? The cost and
performance data are going to be key,” she said.
As Eversource prepares to launch the Framingham pilot
project later this spring, it’s not an understatement to say that many in the
energy world — scientists, environmentalists, state officials and, of course,
other utilities — are watching closely to see how it plays out.
CT to get $138M for local projects in first government funding bills
Connecticut is set to receive millions of dollars in funding
for local projects that are part of the first tranche of bills to fund the
federal government — with likely more on the way if Congress negotiates and
passes the second round later this month.
The U.S. Senate took the final step on Friday to
approve a package of bills to fund six of 12 government agencies and avoid a
partial shutdown. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the legislation into
law. Federal lawmakers need to pass funding for the remaining six by March 22.
All but one member of Connecticut’s congressional delegation
voted for the $460 billion package. U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., ultimately
opposed it because of a change it would make to the national background checks
system related to purchasing firearms.
As part of the appropriations bills, members in both
chambers can submit requests to direct funding for priorities and pet projects
in their states and districts, formerly known as earmarks. Billions of dollars
were approved for earmarks in the first tranche and make up less than 3% of the
total funding package.
So far, Connecticut’s delegation has secured about $138
million in funding, with more expected in the next package of bills. That
includes earmarks for about 140 projects across the state for infrastructure
and environmental investments, social services for families and children,
affordable housing and funds for police departments.
Towns and cities saw a monthslong delay of earmarked funding
because Congress had been unable to pass appropriations bills for fiscal year
2024. Lawmakers instead approved several short-term bills, known as continuing
resolutions, to keep the government running until they negotiated a spending
deal in recent weeks.
More broadly, the legislation funds six agencies including:
agriculture; commerce; energy; interior; military construction and veterans
affairs; and transportation and housing. A major priority for Connecticut
Democrats that made it into the bill is full funding for nutrition programs
that are used by millions of low-income families.
“This package does not reflect every one of our priorities,
but I am proud that in a divided country, we were able to work across the aisle
to get this done for the American people,” said U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd
District, who is the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee,
which helps craft government funding bills.
“Through this bill, we are relieving American families of
burdensome inflation, and we are looking out for the most vulnerable with full
funding for programs like nutrition assistance,” she added. “We invest in green
energy and climate research, protect women from government intrusion into their
reproductive health care decisions, and reaffirm our commitments to supporting
America’s war heroes.”
Local boost in federal funding
More than 60 towns and cities in Connecticut will see
investments flow into their communities. Additional localities could be
included in the second batch of earmarks, which could also include even more
funding for places that already secured money for projects.
So far, Hartford and New Haven are set to receive the most
funding for projects including upgrades for museums like the Mark Twain House
and Memorial and the Connecticut Science Center, social services groups that
address homelessness and domestic violence, and funds for after-school programs
at local Boys & Girls Clubs.
Overall, the earmarks are spread out and reach the farthest
corners of the state including Salisbury, Stonington and Thompson.
More than two-thirds of this batch will go toward
infrastructure and transportation projects, while the remainder largely falls
under economic development, social services, housing, energy and the
environment.
Some of the highest-funded projects so far include: $4
million for improvements on Temple Street in New Haven; $3.6 million to help
complete the Hop River State Park Trail around Coventry and Columbia; $4.5
million for upgrades to Mill River Park in Stamford; $3.2 million to repair a
dike leak in Meriden; and $3 million for the construction of a new social
services center in New Haven.
Housing projects will also see a sizable boost from this
bill, particularly for affordable housing and homeless shelters. That includes
investments to renovate a 12-unit affordable supportive housing apartment
building in New Milford, repairs to 14 affordable housing units in Washington
and funds to create housing in Waterbury, Winchester and Barkhamsted as well as
in Windham and New London counties.
A handful of police departments will also see some funding.
Madison will get a pot of money to hire a social worker, while departments in
Guilford and Hamden will receive funds to upgrade their communications network
and equipment.
Earmarks, now known in the House as community project
funding and in the Senate as congressionally-directed spending, have been back
for a few years after a 10-year ban. Many lawmakers see them as direct ways of
reaching their communities as well as wielding more influence during the
appropriations process.
Others, mainly Republicans, have a negative connotation of
earmarks, viewing them as extraneous measures for pet projects that balloon
congressional spending. Though many GOP members still submit earmarks despite
plans to vote against the bill.
Lawmakers and their immediate families must certify they
have no financial ties to their requests. Government and nonprofit entities can
receive funding, but for-profits are ineligible. House members can request up
to 15 projects, but there is no cap on the number for senators. Many requests
are made jointly by senators and House members.
In the last spending bill that ran out at the end of last
September, members secured a total of $236 million for more than 170
projects across Connecticut. It is unclear if lawmakers will exceed those
numbers once the government is fully funded later this month.
Other CT priorities
The first government spending package includes other
priorities for Connecticut's delegation like $2.4 billion for Amtrak
— with part of the money going toward enhancements on the Northeast Corridor — and $680
million to preserve the Long Island Sound.
The bill gives a $1 billion increase to the Special
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, bringing the
new funding total to over $7 billion. More than 40,000 Connecticut
residents use WIC benefits.
During negotiations, a House Republican pushed to tie more
WIC funding to a voluntary pilot program that would place more limits on what
people using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could purchase and
would cut out more processed foods. But that did not make it into the final
deal.
The legislation also included mandatory funding of $119
million for the SNAP program, formerly known as food stamps, as well as other
nutrition assistance.
"Child nutrition programs will receive $33 billion in
funding, including $10 million for school breakfast equipment grants and $5
million for the Farm to School program. This is a major victory in the fight to
combat child hunger," said U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, who is
the ranking member of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition, Foreign
Agriculture, and Horticulture.
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, also noted that the
legislation secures funding for projects at the Naval Submarine Base New London
that he pushed for alongside others in the delegation.
But it was the inclusion of a gun policy that was a
nonstarter for Murphy. It was added into one of the bills through a GOP
amendment. Republicans applauded it as a way to ensure veterans do not lose
their gun rights, while critics like Murphy worry about the risks it poses.
The provision would make a change so the U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs would no longer notify the National Instant Criminal
Background Check System if veterans need help with finances and benefits. If
they are showing up during a background check as mentally incompetent or
impaired, they would not be able to purchase a firearm.
Under the bill, the VA can’t report them to NICS
"without the order or finding of a judge, magistrate, or other judicial
authority of competent jurisdiction that such person is a danger to himself or
herself or others."
Murphy said he tried to get the measure removed from the
bill, but it ultimately remained in the final version. He voiced concerns about
what it would mean for veterans with severe mental illnesses, arguing that they
are "a population that is especially vulnerable to suicide."
"My feeling is that we should not be trading away
damaging gun policy. That should be a bottom line for Democrats," Murphy
said in an interview.
Murphy said there are other parts of the legislation he
supports, including the funding for nutrition programs as well as the dozens of
earmarks he requested.
"The bill has lots of good things in it," he said.
"These are tough decisions."