Image courtesy of EIP LLC
A $1 billion, three-phase energy and data center project kicked off in New Britain on Wednesday.
Gov. Ned Lamont, New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes and Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz (D-Berlin) joined members of EIP LLC for the official start of the project’s first phase, being built on a portion of the former site of Stanley Black & Decker on Curtis Street.
The first phase of Energy and Innovation Park, being developed by EIP LLC, will cost $100 million and house 44 South Windsor-made Doosan fuel cells. The first phase of construction, which will begin this month, involved the renovation of two of the buildings on the site and the installation of 19.98 megawatts of grid-connected fuel cells, which will make this the world’s largest indoor fuel cell installation. This project was selected to provide clean renewable energy to the grid through a 2017 Department of Energy and Environmental Protection RFP.
“This state-of-the-art data center will support the creation of good paying, high-quality jobs and make Central Connecticut the epicenter of the region’s tech industry,” Lamont said in a statement. “I am excited about the forward-thinking transformations that we are all going to watch grow in New Britain over the next several years.”
Once fully built out the full high-speed data center campus will be powered by an additional 44 megawatts of clean, renewable fuel-cell generation. The company will then devote $300 million in Phase 2 to renovate and build out the adjacent data center complex to “white space” configuration, meaning it is ready to host computers and servers that will comprise the high-performance computing center.
“Data centers are proving to be essential components to a high-tech economy and having the region’s largest data center located right here in New Britain is going to be a tremendous boost to both New Britain and the entire state” EIP LLC Partner Mark Wick said in a statement. “It’s fitting this is taking place on a portion of the Stanley Black & Decker campus, a company which transformed New Britain more than 175 years ago with its innovation and industry-leading talent. We are using that same approach to help once again make New Britain a national leader.”
Local officials hope the data center will help spur tech companies to invest in the city.
“With this Data Center you will see Silicon Valley shift east and with that technology companies and good paying jobs will follow. New Britain will become the new hardware city,” Stewart said in a statement.
