Regulators consider 7 alternative energy projects for contracts
The projects range from wood-fired power operations to fuel cell projects, and are part of a state program that subsidizes greener ways of generating energy.
The Department of Public Utility Control recently recommended the seven projects from 11 finalists, and is slated to vote Jan. 9 on the draft ruling.
The projects would receive contracts paying above-market rate prices for up to 20 years, and electricity customers will fund the subsidies through their monthly bills.
The projects include a proposed plant at Kofkoff Egg Farms in Bozrah, which would generate electricity through a process burning a mixture of wood and chicken manure.
Another is a $130 million plant proposed in Plainfield to burn wood and construction and demolition waste using a similar process.
"Our project will not only provide clean, renewable energy for Connecticut consumers, but a portion of our fuel will come from recycling the clean wood component of construction and demolition material, which is a real economic and environmental benefit," said Daniel Donovan, managing member of NuPower LLC, which is proposing the Plainfield plant.
The project has been criticized by some environmental groups, who worry about whether the plant would endanger public health by burning construction debris laced with arsenic, lead and other toxins.
Nancy Alderman, president of North-Haven based Environmental and Human Health Inc., said health advocates remain concerned about the project despite Donovan's assurances.
"We are very displeased. Our cancer rates are among the highest in the country. This is something Connecticut should not be approving," she said.
State statutes prohibit the burning of construction and demolition waste, according to the DPUC. However, the plant is exempt from that rule because it received funding before May 1, 2006, from the Renewable Energy Investment Fund.
Besides projects using wood to generate energy, the DPUC also recommended fuel cell projects in Waterbury, Stamford and Milford.
The Waterbury and Stamford projects would pump electricity into the region's power grid while using waste heat from the fuel cell process to heat and cool hospitals in the cities.
The 9-megawatt Milford project would be the largest fuel cell installation by capacity in the world, said R. Daniel Brdar, chairman and CEO of FuelCell Energy, Inc. of Danbury, which will manufacture the fuel cells for the three projects.
"These selections firmly establish fuel cells' role in deploying ultra-clean energy capacity," Brdar said.
The other two recommended green-energy projects are a proposal for a plant powered by landfill gas in the South Norwalk section of Norwalk, and a small biomass facility proposed for East Canaan section of North Canaan.
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