Now that Connecticut’s electrical power has been fully restored, the typical governmental responses are kicking in: point fingers, hold hearings and propose changes to existing practices. And, as is also typical, the discussions will take place within a distinct silo of a single issue. In this case, it is the pre- and post-storm performance of Connecticut Light & Power. Jefferson B. Davies writes in The Hartford Courant.

Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center received a UTC Power PureCell Model 400 system on Friday, Jan. 27, 2012.The system will provide clean, reliable on-site power at the St. Francis Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital campus on Blue Hills Avenue in Hartford. The fuel cell from UTC Power will provide 400kw of clean, reliable power to Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital, serving nearly half of the building’s electrical needs.

Late last year Central Connecticut State University in New Britain added a 1.4 megawatt fuel cell from Fuel Cell Energy to its existing 2.5 megawatt cogeneration plant, a couple of months too late, however, for the snowstorm. “If we had the fuel cell, it would have pretty much operated the whole campus,” said plant facilities engineer Rob Gagne.

Bridgeport Biodiesel, which converts used cooking oil into biodiesel, opened in Bridgeport’s West End neighborhood Monday.

Verdant Power has been awarded a 10-year license for a tidal wave energy plant in New York City’s East River. Verdant has tested six turbines there in the tidal strait between New York Harbor and Long Island Sound. The power produced by that demonstration project powered a Gristedes supermarket and a parking garage on Roosevelt Island. Click on this environmental headline for more on this story.

“The task with these programs is how you design the industry so it doesn’t rely on subsidies,” Garcia said. “Our main goal is to attract and deploy capital to help Connecticut meet its clean energy goals.” Hartford Business Journal reports.

The new power procurement manager, Jeffrey Gaudiosi, 39, of Windsor, currently serves as vice president of the Manufacturing Alliance of Connecticut and a vice chairman of the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Board. Gaudiosi will start work in his new position Feb. 10.

Gemma Renewable Power LLC of Rocky Hill is teaming up with a New York company in an $18 million deal to build a wind farm with 15 turbines in central Pennsylvania. The Reading Eagle reports. Click on this environmental headline for more on this story.

NORTH HAVEN — The old town landfill soon will have a new addition that is expected to save the town millions of dollars: photovoltaic solar panels. The panels should be installed and start working for the town by the end of 2012, said Bob Landino, chairman of Greenskies Renewable Energy LLC of Middletown, a developer
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Hospitals are investigating every option to reduce their expenses — from heat pumps in the basement to solar panels on the roof, and engineering firms are competing for their business.

Read more: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Hoffman-Engineering-plays-key-role-in-Gaylord-2433890.php#ixzz1i7RqHTjj

The second and final piece of an $18 million to $20 million project that includes nearly 18,400 ground-mounted solar panels in two locations in the city was ready to generate.

Local solar company Greenskies Renewable Energy has offered the city a low 20-year fixed energy price in exchange for the use of city land on which to build three solar panel systems, at no cost to the city. The Hartford Courant reports.

Solar panels will be installed soon on the roof of John Wallace Middle School, eventually providing discounted electricity and a learning tool for students.

While some faith groups decry the notion of global warming, St. John’s recently received a $1,000 grant from Interfaith Power and Light, a San Francisco-based national multi-faith organization that promotes religious groups’ responses to global warming. St. John’s had replaced original lighting and cut electricity use by more than 20 percent. Click on this environmental headline for more on this story.

Collinsville has discovered that it had not been collecting on the state’s Payment In Lieu of Taxes for the upper dam and related infrastructure. The Payment in Lieu of Taxes program gives municipalities funds for state land for which it cannot collect taxes.

By thinking more broadly and strategically, Connecticut could turn its view forward instead of backward and become a trailblazer in how power is created and distributed while driving new job creation.

The United States Department of Agriculture has awarded more than $8 million to hydroelectric power plant projects in Connecticut, Oregon, Utah, and Vermont under the Rural Energy for America Program, including $275,000 to Putnam Greenpower’s project in Connecticut.

Connecticut’s two largest electric utilities have filed plans with state utility regulators for a program in which homes or businesses that use solar power or fuel cells would be eligible for quarterly energy credit payments. The New Haven Register reports. Click on the Environmental Headline for more of this story.

Carla Squatrito, the founder and owner of Carla’s Pasta Inc. in South Windsor, which produces frozen pasta and pesto products for national distribution, took delivery of a DFC300-model fuel cell power plant this week. The Hartford Courant reports.

“Be it enacted, by the Student Government Association that Renewable Energy Fund monies from Academic Years 2011-12 and 2012-13 shall be approved for the purchase and installation of solar photovoltaic renewable energy generation at Connecticut College if and only if the newly installed combined generational capacity is 45kW or greater.”