The Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection awarded $5.1 million in microgrid funding for Bridgeport and Milford to develop districts that can keep the power on when the main electric grid goes down.
The University of Bridgeport received $2.2 million for a fuel cell that can provide independent electricity to campus buildings including a dining hall, recreation center, students center, police station, and two residence halls. The microgrid can help shelter 2,700 people in the case of an outage emergency.
Milford will receive $2.9 million for power facilities including a solar array, natural gas generators, and batteries to provide independent power to the Parsons Government Center, middle school, senior center, senior housing, and city hall.
This is DEEP’s second round of microgrid funding. The first round in July 2013 awarded $18 million to nine project in Hartford, Bridgeport, Fairfield, Groton, Middletown, Storrs, Windham, and Woodbridge. Of those projects, the Wesleyan University microgrid in Middletown is operational while the others are in various stages of development.
