Companies raise objections to the DPUC’s Weston fuel cell ruling
Written by Kimberly Donnelly
The town received good news a few weeks ago when the state Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) issued a draft of a declaratory ruling allowing the town to aggregate electric consumption at the high school and middle school and to apply that net amount against electricity generated by a fuel cell the town wants to install at the middle school.
This week, however, the news was not so good.
First Selectman Gayle Weinstein said Monday that United Illuminating (UI) and Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) had filed exceptions to the declaratory ruling.
Their main concern, the first selectman explained, is that the ruling is too broad, and that it might set a precedent that could allow chain stores and others to aggregate their consumption when calculating energy usage.
The town asked the DPUC for a declaratory ruling allowing the town to combine its energy usage at the middle and high schools by simple accounting (adding the two accounts together) rather than physically connecting the two meters, which is estimated to cost at least $900,000.
The DPUC’s ruling stated not only could the town combine usage numbers at the two schools, but it could also include electricity delivered to other town buildings in calculating how much electricity is used.
Weston has asked United Technologies to build and install a 400-kW fuel cell at or near the middle school. It is estimated the fuel cell would provide 95% of the electricity needed for both Weston High School and Weston Middle School, all of the heat for the pool at the middle school, a significant amount of the heat and hot water for the middle school, and all of the air conditioning for the middle school.
There’s a “huge push” from the state and federal governments to move toward clean energy and energy conservation, Ms. Weinstein said, and “what we’re trying to do is 100% in line with that… The question for us is: Is it going to cost an extra $1 million?”
Editor’s Note: This is a corrected version of the print story that appears in the Feb. 25 issue of The Weston Forum, which stated First Selectman Weinstein made oral arguments to the DPC on Tuesday; that appearance was in fact rescheduled.
