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by Uma Ramiah | Feb 16, 2011 4:00 pm

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Posted to: City Hall, Environment

New Haven’s green energy effort cleared a hurdle Tuesday night: Aldermen agreed to move forward a proposal to install a fuel cell downtown.

Uma Ramiah Photos “It’s nice to be able to come and talk about what’s so clearly a win-win,” Rob Smuts, New Haven’s chief administrative officer, told the committee. “This is a great hedge against rising energy costs.

Smuts accompanied Giovanni Zinn, an environmental consultant for New Haven’s Office of Sustainability and the mastermind behind the initiative.

The City Services and Environmental Policy Committee passed forward the proposal in a unanimous vote. It will come before the Board of Aldermen next month.

“I think this is a terrific project,” Zinn said. He came prepared with a PowerPoint presentation for the aldermen, detailing projected costs and energy savings over a ten year period. For background information on the project’s development, see here.

“The first study undertaken was for 20 years,” Smuts said, “but then we decided that ten years was more feasible. We don’t want to commit ourselves too far down the road to one technology.”

If approved, the cell would be installed in the lower plaza behind City Hall, adjacent to the Hall of Records.

There are multiple benefits to the fuel cell, Zinn explained.

“This was the lowest cost option we found,” he said. “And there’s a real environmental benefit.” The cell would generate energy (electricity and heat) from natural gas, greatly reducing nitrogen oxide emissions. Hydrogen could also be used, he said, though it’s not yet widely available.

The cell, which Zinn estimates could save the city up to $3.3 million dollars over 20 years, would look something like a trailer. It would be surrounded by an 8 foot high wrought iron fence, and lights would be installed. “They actually look pretty cool at night,” he said.

A current contract with the Chase CT Financial Center, provides energy for the adjacent City Hall and the Hall of Records at a cost of just under $1 million a year. That contract expires at the end of 2013, said Zinn. The plan, said Smuts, is to simply extend the original contract: the city pays according to usage, so the Chase energy center supply would serve as a backup energy source.

“And the fuel cell will dramatically reduce our consumption,” he said. The fuel cell, Zinn said, would provide 60% of the heating load and 30% of the cooling. The energy center would provide the rest.

One question remained: Should the city rent or lease the cell? Considering the cost of purchasing vs. a ten year lease, the natural gas itself, maintenance and other costs, Zinn determined that leasing would save the city approximately $1 million over ten years.

UTC power, the company that won the request for proposals (RFP) put out by the city to provide the fuel cell, would apply for a CT Clean Energy Fund Grant as well, said Zinn. That funding, provided by federal stimulus funds, would decrease the cost to the city by $750,000 to $1 million. The fuel cell would need to be in operation by March 31, 2012.

Pending Board of Aldermen approval, said Zinn, the construction would begin this summer, to be completed by winter 2011-2012. The current Chase agreement would be extended to 2022, to coincide with the end of the fuel-cell lease.

“This just really saves the city money,” said Zinn. “It’s energy efficient, provides cleaner air, and uses Connecticut technology.”

And it pushes New Haven to the forefront of the sustainability movement, he said.

The four aldermen present were open to the project.

“I’m fully supportive of the cell,” said Alderman Matt Smith during deliberations. The three others present agreed.

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