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Fuel Cell to Generate Nearly 50 Percent Savings

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — Middletown High School will receive $800,000 in state surplus funds to offset the cost of installing a 200-kilowatt fuel cell.


The new $106.6 million school, currently under construction, will feature a phosphoric acid fuel cell designed to generate 48 percent of the school’s estimated base-load electricity requirements at a lower cost than purchasing the electricity from the grid, according to reports. Heat from the cell will also be captured and used to supply heat to the swimming pool and the school’s space heating system.


The cell, supplied by UTC Power, of South Windsor, Conn., will be independent from the power grid, allowing it to provide power during a blackout. As a result, the school will serve as an emergency shelter for the community.


Compared with conventional power combustion power plants, the cell system is expected to produce 13,000 fewer pounds of acid rain and smog-causing pollutants per year, avoid 935,000 pounds of carbon dioxide production annually, and emit no harmful fumes.


The energy source will also serve as an educational tool for physics, geology, chemistry and biology students.


One of the first municipalities in the state to commit to clean energy, Middletown received a $940,000 clean energy grant in 2007 from Connecticut Innovations Inc., to help fund the fuel cell installation.


Connecticut Innovations is a quasi-public organization launched by the state Legislature in 1989 to spur growth in energy, biotechnology, photonics and information technology.


Middletown High plans to use the funds to cover the cost of mechanical, electrical and plumbing work necessary to integrate the fuel cell’s electrical supply and the heat it will generate for the school, officials say.


The 283,000-square-foot high school and vocational agricultural center is slated to open in time for the 2008-09 school year. It is the largest construction project in the city’s history, according to reports.