Fuel Cell Park Project Work Resumes at Naval Submarine Base New London

September 24, 2019

A new fuel cell park project at Naval Submarine Base New London is back under construction after being stalled for several months this summer due to a shortage of funds to pay contractors, according to The Day, an eastern Connecticut daily newspaper.
FuelCell Energy, which is designing, manufacturing and overseeing the 7.4-megawatt ton base fuel cell park, temporarily lacked working capital to complete the project but the company now has new management and sold stock to pay down some of its debt, according to the report.
Initial projections indicated the park would be complete by the end of May 2019, but that has been revised several times, according to the report.
The fuel cell park is expected to produce about 64 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually and supply more than half of the electrical power on the sub base, according to The Day.
Energy produced by the fuel cells also will be sold to the local power grid, with the Navy and the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative (CMEEC) agreeing to a 20-year power purchase agreement, according to the report.
The fuel cell park will also support an electric microgrid for the sub base, allowing the base in the event of a blackout or other power outage, to use the fuel cell park’s output and meet its critical power needs.
The fuel cell modules, considered the heart of the plant, are awaiting shipment to the sub base and most of the other parts are either ready for delivery or are in final assembly, according to the report.
Fuel cells are like batteries, using an electrochemical process and natural gas to produce electricity while also producing heat and water that can be used for other purposes.
Bob Ross, executive director of Connecticut’s Office of Military Affairs, which helped secure the base’s microgrid project, said the new fuel cell park has the attention of top Navy officials who see it as a model for across the nation, given the partnership of the base, state, local utilities and private industry.
It also represents an example of the complexity of P4 agreements, Ross wrote On Base in an email.
“This project is really important to big Navy,” Ross told The Day. “It has a lot of visibility inside the Beltway.”
The Navy has been moving toward alternative energy, partly to reduce reliance on foreign oil. Energy is the single largest cost for Navy installations, and officials have said savings from more efficient-energy sources can be redirected to critical operations, according to the report.
Photo credit: Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative

September 24, 2019

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