United Technologies Corp.’s alternative energy division has contracted one of its fuel cells to Hamden to light the high school and heat its swimming pool.
UTC Power said it signed a 10-year agreement to furnish, install and operate its 400-kilowatt fuel cell at the high school. The price tag for the unit was not immediately disclosed.
The unit’s lease and installation is being funded by a $900,000 grant from the state Clean Energy Fund, UTC Power said.
The fuel cell will provide 90 percent of the high school’s annual electricity needs while its waste heat will be channeled to the pool. The energy savings will be about $800,000 over the 10-year period, authorities say.
Hamden already has a 4-kilowatt solar photovoltaic installation at the community center and a 5-kilowatt system at the middle school toward its goal of 20 percent of its townwide energy from clean energy sources by 2012.
