$80M fuel cell project at the former Stanley Works campus in New Britain set to power up in May

Liese Klein

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

Katherine Lutge

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

 Susan Danseyar

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

Kayla Mutchler

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.

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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

Michael Puffer

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

Hanna Snyder Gambini

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

Miriam Wasser

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

Lisa Hagen

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."