PPL Energy Services, or Wallingford Energy LLC, operates a 243-megawatt gas-fired power plant on John Street and has been selected to provide four megawatts of energy using fuel cell technology.

The recommendation is the first in a series of steps in Project 100, a program created by the state legislature to develop 100 megawatts of renewable energy generation for state consumers.

Connecticut Light & Power Co. will review the energy fund’s recommendations and analyze the proposals further. If accepted and approved by the state’s Department of Public Utilities Control, the analysis will lead to a long-term power purchase agreement with the project’s owners. The long-term purchase agreements must be filed by 2007.

Other candidates include a 15-megawatt biomass project by GDI Renewable Power in Watertown, and a 15-megawatt wind project by enXco. The combined 34 megawatts will generate enough clean energy to power about 25,000 average-size homes in the state.

“We’re pretty far along” with the technology, said Steven Gabrielle, business development manager for PPL Energy headquartered in Allentown, Pa. “We’re excited to see it moving forward and we’re moving along with it. We’re providing it right into the power grid.”

Gabrielle said PPL installed eight fuel cells since 2001 and if approved, the new project will be the company’s largest installation. The new cells will be next to the plant and will draw on gas and convert it to hydrogen.

Gabrielle said the final decisions on the project should be made in a month. The new project will allow PPL to take on larger scale fuel cell production, he said. It also puts more fuel cell technology in the Northeast. Much of the existing technology is in California and Nevada.

Under a 2003 state energy act, the state’s two major utilities — United Illuminating Co. and Connecticut Light & Power — are required to enter into long-term power purchase agreements with developers to purchase a minimum of 100 megawatts of renewable energy.

The energy legislation was created because renewable energy projects are difficult to finance without long-term contracts, said a spokesperson for the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund.

“This legislation creates a strong viable market for energy generated by clean and renewable energy technologies,” said Lisa Dondy, chief operating officer for the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund.

“In doing so, it supports the advancement of an industry vital to our economy, our environment and our quality of life and serves as a national model for the country.”

The ratepayer fund is administered by Connecticut Innovations Inc.