The three organizations - St. Francis Care Hospital, Mohegan Sun Casino and South Windsor High School - were recognized at the Connecticut Green Building Forum by EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy at a ceremony in Hartford’s Mark Twain House Museum. EPA’s CHP Partnership is a voluntary program that seeks to reduce the environmental impact of power generation by promoting the use of combined heat and power.

St. Francis Care Hospital, located in Hartford, installed a CHP system centered on a fuel cell that produces up to 200 kilowatts (kW) of electricity with an estimated operating efficiency of over 56 percent. St. Francis’ CHP system requires an estimated 25 percent less fuel than typical onsite thermal generation and purchased electricity. By preheating the boiler feed water, St. Francis Care reduces the amount of fuel consumed by the boiler and its operating costs.

The Mohegan Sun Casino property, in Uncasville, is a complex of roughly 300,000 square feet featuring gaming space, a convention center, shopping and entertainment. The facility’s electrical and thermal demands are satisfied with a fuel cell-based CHP system that utilizes natural gas as its primary fuel. The system provides up to 400 kW of electricity to the entertainment complex. Heat recovered from the fuel cell is used to preheat boiler feed water and generate domestic hot water. Mohegan Sun’s CHP system requires an estimated 26 percent less fuel than typical onsite thermal generation and purchased electricity, and operates at an estimated efficiency of 58 percent.

South Windsor High School recently installed a new natural gas-fired 200 kW system that generates enough electricity to satisfy approximately 50 percent of the school’s peak electric demand and 100 percent of its off-peak demand. Operating at almost 58 percent efficiency, the CHP system requires an estimated 22 percent less fuel than typical onsite thermal generation and purchased electricity.

Both the St. Francis Hospital and the South Windsor High School projects were made possible with support from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund.

The CHP Partnership works closely with energy users, industry, state and local governments, and other stakeholders to develop new projects with well-balanced energy, environmental and economic benefits. To date, EPA’s CHP Partners have installed over 2,200 Megawatts of combined heat and power capacity, resulting in emissions reductions that are equivalent to planting more than 2.4 million acres of trees.