FuelCell Energy and its distribution partner PPL EnergyPlus are to provide a 250-kilowatt Direct FuelCell power plant for the Pepperidge Farm bakery facility in Bloomfield, Connecticut.
Opened in 2003, the facility is the newest of Campbell Soup Company subsidiary Pepperidge Farm’s eight bakeries in the US. The project is being assisted through the support of the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF). This project also received a grant from the US Department of Defense Climate Change Fuel Cell Program.
The fuel cell power plant is expected to provide about 20% of the facility’s base load power, with the heat byproduct being used for process steam for the bakery. PPL will own the unit and sell the electricity and heat to Pepperidge Farm under a power purchase agreement. FuelCell Energy will provide the technology and on going maintenance under its long-term master service agreement with PPL. Delivery is expected in the third calendar quarter of 2005.
We are extremely pleased that our state-of-the-art Pepperidge Farm Bakery in Bloomfield will be powered by a new, state-of-the-art power-generating technology, said David Watson, Pepperidge Farm vice president of engineering. We benefit by having efficient and reliable onsite power, and the State of Connecticut benefits by very low emissions from a fuel cell power plant that generates electricity without combustion.