If built, a fuel cell park planned for Beacon Falls, Connecticut will surpass a South Korean facility to become the world’s largest, according to the Hartford Courant. Developers of the Beacon Falls Energy Park have signed a letter of intent but will still need financing, engineering studies, and permits before the facility is built. They seek to build the plant over the next three years.
The planned facility would contain 63.3 megawatts of fuel cells on eight acres of land, surpassing South Korea’s 59-megawatt fuel cell park as the world’s largest. Connecticut is already home to the largest fuel cell park in the United States, a 15-megawatt facility in Bridgeport.
A fuel cell is similar to a large, continuously operating battery that produces power from an electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen comes from the air and the hydrogen from fuels such as natural gas. Unlike a battery, a fuel cell does not run down, as long as it is supplied with hydrogen and oxygen.
According to the Hartford Business Journal, Connecticut is one of three states that consider fuel cells to be a renewable energy.
