A Washington, D.C. group has filed suit against Bloom Energy’s plan to install fuel cells in northern Delaware. The Caesar Rodney Institute, which announced the suit on its website, has repeatedly challenged the merits of utilizing fuel cells to produce electrical power for sale to ratepayers of Delmarva Power, Delaware’s largest utility.
- A Bloom energy server.
The institute was the only entity opposing the contract between Delmarva Power and Bloom Energy at the Delaware Public Service rate hearings in October of 2011, on the basis the economic impact on Delaware’s economy would be negative because of the contract, which would cost Delmarva customers, on average around $8 a year.
Named in the suit were Gov. Jack Markell and others.
The installation of the fuel cells is part of a deal that will lead to construction of a manufacturing plant by Bloom in Newark, Del.
The institute was also concerned about the constitutionality of the contract.
Brian Selander, a spokesman for Gov. Jack Markell released the following statement:
“It is disappointing the Delaware’s right wing Caesar Rodney Institute teamed up with an out-of-state special interest group in a last minute effort to try an short circuit the creation of good middle class manufacturing jobs here Delaware. We intend to fight these efforts vigorously to protect these important jobs.”
The Caesar Rodney Institute has battled Delaware’s alternative energy standards, instead pushing for a natural gas-fired power plant and holding out the possibility of a nuclear power plant.
The suit came shortly before Bloom and online auction giant eBay announced the use of the Boom servers at the company’s flagship data center in Utah. The Bloom servers will power the center, with the the electric grid serving as a back-up power source.
At the groundbreaking in late April for the new Bloom plant, representatives of corporations using the Bloom servers praised the reliability of the technology and its ability of the Bloom boxes to operate around the clock.
Click on the link below for the Rodney blog posting:
Lawsuit Filed against Governor Markell, Public Service Commission « Caesar Rodney Institute Blog.
