Governor Dannel Malloy announced a new fuel cell project in New Britain that is predicted to bring in thousands of new jobs.
Energy and Innovation Park will be housed in the vacant Stanley Black and Decker industrial complex in New Britain. When the project is complete, 44 tractor-trailer-sized fuel cells will produce 20 megawatts of power to the grid. Officials expect to deliver the clean energy by the end of 2019.
The next phase of the project will be to transform an existing six-story building on the old Stanley Works campus into a high-performance data center.
Deb Geyer from Stanley Black and Decker said when the project is complete, Energy and Innovation Park will be the largest fuel cell facility in the world, and is just the next chapter in the toolmaker's 175-year presence in New Britain.
“Where once we brought rail, now we're bringing clean energy and data,” said Geyer. “Those two will be the most powerful commodities in our future.”
At the announcement Monday, Malloy said the venture represents a new beginning for the Hardware City.
“This site has the potential to be occupied by 2,500 individuals working on this campus,” said Malloy. “Those are new jobs that currently don't exist in the state of Connecticut.”
The billion-dollar project is a joint venture of Stanley Black and Decker, Energy and Innovation Park, LLC, and Connecticut fuel cell maker Doosan.