Green energy park to be built on former landfill site
By Bridgeport News Staff on October 26, 2013 in Local News, News · 0 CommentsMayor Bill Finch announces plans to turn Bridgeport"s old landfill into a green energy park.The city"s former municipal landfill site will be the future home of a new green energy park, generating clean and renewable energy for the residents and businesses of Bridgeport.Using the landfill as a backdrop, Mayor Bill Finch, state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Daniel C. Esty and United Illuminating Senior Vice President of Customer and Business Services Anthony Marone unveiled the collaborative public/private effort which will result in the installation of solar panels and a fuel cell at the long-ago closed landfill site.Creating a green energy park on the former landfill site is one of the initiatives laid out in BGreen 2020, Finch"s sustainability plan for the city to create jobs, save taxpayers money and fight climate change. This 50-acre renewable energy park, which has the potential to house solar, fuel cells and wind installations, will cut down the city"s dependence on fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions."We are working diligently with public and private partners to transform Bridgeport into a green city, focused on job creation and climate change," Finch said. "Converting a former landfill site into a green energy park that will generate clean, renewable energy for our city is emblematic of our BGreen efforts. Thank you to United Illuminating, Gov. Malloy and Commissioner Esty for their efforts in helping us create this new green energy park."The green energy park is a result of a public/private partnership between the city of Bridgeport and UI.Based on UI"s preliminary analysis, 2.2 megawatts of solar photo voltaic and 2.8 megawatts of fuel cell energy are feasible on Bridgeport"s green energy park.UI"s combined project is estimated to produce 26 million kilowatts annually, enough to power over 3,000 homes for an entire year. This equates to an installed cost of capacity of approximately $5,000 to $5,500 per kilowatt and a generation cost of approximately $0.12/kilowatt over the lifetime of the project."This program will provide customers with the benefits of clean renewable distributed electric generation built under a regulated cost based framework," Marone said. "Utilizing this approach can ensure our customers that they will receive the energy and environmental value that this facility will generate over its lifetime. UI (predecessor companies) began generating electricity in Bridgeport more than 125 years ago from two small facilities on John Street and Congress Avenue. This exciting project represents a return to our roots in electric generation."State legislation, Section 127 of Public Act 11-80, enacted in 2011, allows Connecticut Local Electric Distribution Companies to build, own and operate renewable electric generation systems from 1 to 5 megawatts to a total of 10 megawatts"Gov. Malloy"s energy strategy for our state is to bring cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable power to our residents and businesses — and this project is consistent with those goals," Esty said. "This project brings many benefits by harnessing the potential of clean, renewable power at an attractive price and putting an old landfill site back into productive use. We applaud United Illuminating for this undertaking and thank Mayor Finch for the outstanding commitment he has made to environmental sustainability and sound energy policy."UI submitted an application to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) for approval to build, own and operate 5 of the 10 megawatts of renewable power in Bridgeport that was allotted to them in the legislation.Bridgeport"s green energy park will be UI"s first project built, owned and rate based under the company"s Renewable Connections Program.The green energy park will also be one of the anchors of Bridgeport"s eco-technology park, located in the city"s South Side and West End neighborhoods, which is currently home to several new "green" businesses, including Park City Green, a mattress recycling facility; Flexipave, which recycles tires and turns them into permeable pavement; EnviroExpress, a natural gas filling station and the largest fuel cell energy park in North America being constructed by FuelCell