The Connecticut Siting Council will review a construction and management plan for FuelCell Energy’s proposed 7.5-megawatt fuel cell facility in Hartford.
Homestead Fuel Cell 1 LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Danbury-based FuelCell Energy, submitted the Development and Management Plan in July for the project at 235 Brainard Road.
The Siting Council is scheduled to consider the plan at its Sept. 3 meeting.
The council approved the underlying project in March, finding it would not have a substantial adverse environmental effect.
FuelCell Energy plans to install three 2.5-MW SureSource 3000 fuel cell units on a 0.76-acre leased site near the end of Brainard Road, close to the Metropolitan District Commission’s wastewater treatment plant and Hartford-Brainard Airport.
The facility would use natural gas to generate electricity through non-combustion fuel cell technology and is expected to operate for 20 years. Under a power purchase agreement, the electricity would be sold to Eversource Energy and United Illuminating Co.
The Brainard Road project replaces a larger facility that FuelCell Energy had planned for Homestead Avenue.
The company was selected in 2018 through a state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection request for proposals to develop an 8.4-MW fuel cell facility on Homestead Avenue. That project stalled over the cost of extending natural gas infrastructure and was ultimately abandoned in 2024.
State regulators approved relocating the project to Brainard Road in December 2024.
The council has until Sept. 26 to issue a final decision on the construction and management plan.
If approved, construction is expected to begin this year and take about 12 months.
The project’s cost has not been disclosed. The Siting Council issued a protective order keeping information related to project costs, cost recovery and pricing confidential.
