Bloom energy to power Comcast center in Connecticut

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Bloom Energy Servers are not hotComcast announced during a special “switch flipping” this week that Bloom Energy fuel cells are now powering the company’s 80,000-square-foot Western New England Regional Headquarters in Berlin CT.

Bloom fuel cells are primarily manufactured in Newark.

The site serves as Comcast’s regional headquarters for five New England states and is the master facility for receiving and processing television signals for distribution on the Comcast network.

The 400 kilowatt hour fuel cell system will generate more than three million kilowatt hours of electricity each year, providing up to 80 percent of the facility’s total energy load.

The Bloom Energy Servers will enable the Comcast facility to maintain operations through grid outages..

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The project will help Comcast reduce the facility’s carbon emissions by an estimated 1.93 million pounds of emissions each year (as compared to electricity purchased from the grid in Connecticut). This is equivalent to the annual emissions from 185 cars or 121 homes.

“Technology and innovation are at the core of everything Comcast does and this project is another example of how we are deploying innovative technology to build a stronger, more reliable and secure broadband network for our customers,” said Mary McLaughlin, Comcast senior vice president for the Western New England Region in an Earth Day ceremony at the building.  “By generating clean energy on-site, we can enhance the resiliency of our operations while also supporting our sustainability goals and reducing our carbon footprint.”

“Comcast is transforming how people are entertained and informed, and we are proud to have Comcast join Bloom Energy as we strive to change the way we generate the electricity that powers our lives,” said Bill Thayer, Executive Vice President of Sales for Bloom Energy.

Comcast’s Berlin, Connecticut facility serves as the company’s Western New England Region headquarters, which is responsible for serving customers in more than 300 communities throughout Connecticut, Western Massachusetts, Vermont, Western New Hampshire and New York.

Bloom fuel cells have been installed at a number of Connecticut and California sites, thanks in part to incentives.

Bloom cells, which are powered by natural gas or in a few cases landfill gas, are seen as a way for the East Coast to better weather powerful storms like Hurricane Sandy, through installations in “big box” stores, shopping centers as well as telecommunications and data centers.

Announced Bloom installations in Delaware have been limited to JPMorgan Chase and large fuel cell clusters that feed power into the state’s electric grid. Bloom users, like Chase, have indicated the cells are under evaluation to determine if further installations are justified.

The Delaware bloom system is part of the state’s mandate to have a quarter of its electricity to come from alternate sources. The state also has a number of incentives in place that brought Bloom in place.

Hiring at the Bloom site has been closely watched as employment numbers have been below state incentive numbers. However, financial penalties do not kick in for not meeting the numbers until later in the decade. The Newark site is believed to employ 232 as of late last year.

The fuel cells have drawn fire for the extra costs paid by Delmarva Power customers, According to Delmarva Power officials, the costs of the system have not exceeded estimates that were made at the time the legislation was passed. Click here for other Bloom Energy stories.

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