Mashantuckets to begin generating much of their own power

Mashantucket - In terms of its energy needs, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation - its casinos, museum and everything else on its reservation - could become an island unto itself in a few years. A big "green" island. Or maybe "light green."

That, at least, is the ultimate goal of cogeneration, an approach the tribe will embrace with a $34 million project it expects to start testing this spring and to bring online in June. Initially, it is expected to provide nearly 60 percent of the tribe's electricity needs and at the same time heat and cool Foxwoods Resort Casino.

Two 10,300-horsepower jet engines will propel the system, which will convert natural gas - long the tribe's fuel of choice - into electricity and steam. The system is designed to produce 15 megawatts of power and to burn cleanly, efficiently, easing demand on the regional power grid.

And then there's the likely impact on the tribe's electricity bill, which runs to $24 million a year.

"It should pay for itself in three years," said Charlene Jones, a former tribal councilor and chairwoman of the tribe's utilities authority, citing projections that depend on fluctuations in fuel prices. "It just made sense in terms of value and the environment. We truly believe in green initiatives and in making this a greener campus that will run more efficiently."

The power industry supports the tribe's move, to put it mildly.

"Cogeneration's better for the environment and it's better for everything else," said Mike Collins, sales manager for Yankee Gas, the Northeast Utilities company that supplies much of the tribe's natural gas and figures to supply a lot more of it when the cogeneration system hits stride. "It's a way of going green, though it's not totally green like wind or solar power — it's light green."

Collins said the tribe's cogeneration system would be among the five biggest in the state. In southeastern Connecticut, Rand-Whitney Containerboard and AES Thames, both in Montville, and Pfizer in Groton all have cogeneration systems.

"It's a win-win situation," Collins said of the move to cogeneration. "You're being a good corporate citizen and you're lowering costs. … Basically, you're getting two power sources for the price of one."

While ISO New England, which operates the region's bulk power system, wouldn't comment on a specific project, Marcia Blomberg, a spokeswoman for the organization, said any system that generates both heat and power "is an important element in the resources mix because it can help bring down overall demand for electricity in New England ... and avoids the need to build costly new infrastructure."

Project in works for years

The tribe first considered cogeneration a decade ago and renewed its interest several years later amid advances in the attendant technology, according to Robert Birmingham, the tribe's planning director. The tribal council set aside funding for the project in each of its last four annual budgets.

The tribe operates a small, 75-kilowatt cogeneration system in its community center, where it produces electricity and hot water.

Bidding on the $34 million project began more than two years ago and construction began this past March. The work involved renovation of a 15,000-square-foot boiler room to the rear of Foxwoods' Grand Pequot Hotel, several levels below the gaming floor. Four of the eight gas-powered boilers that now heat and cool the casino were removed to make way for the industrial-strength jet engines, or turbines, that power the cogeneration system. The other boilers will remain to provide back-up for the system.

Each of the engines, manufactured by Solar Turbines of San Diego, is about half the horsepower of those that power a 747, according to Frank Zaino, construction manager for the project. Each "lineup" of equipment, from an engine at one end to a steam generator at the other, stretches 100 feet and weighs about 150 tons.

The installation of the equipment is about 80 percent complete, Zaino said last week. The plan is to begin testing the system April 1.

Eventually, Birmingham said, the tribe intends to ramp up the system to provide all of the electricity consumed on the reservation, including the casinos. That consumption ranges from a low of 18 megawatt hours a month in the winter to a high of 26 to 28 megawatt hours a month in the summer, he said. Annually, the reservation consumes 180 to 190 megawatt hours of electricity.

(One megawatt of power can provide the energy needs of 1,000 typical New England homes at one time, according to ISO New England.)

In calculating the cost savings associated with cogeneration, the tribe will have to factor in a dramatic increase in the amount of natural gas it uses, Birmingham said. Given that, he conservatively estimated that the tribe would spend 20 percent less on energy in the first year of the system's operation.

The cogeneration system has an overall efficiency rating of 82.5 percent compared to a regular power-production system's efficiency of 32.5 percent, according to materials supplied by the tribe. The steam-generation side of the system has a 94.5 percent efficiency rating, far better than the 65 to 70 percent efficiency of the existing boilers, Zaino said.

The project has generated benefits in the form of jobs. As many as 80 local tradesmen have toiled on the work site, with A/Z Corp. of North Stonington serving as general contractor and Harry Grodsky & Co., Kleeburg Sheet Metal and Mitchell Services among the subcontrators.

"It's been a lifesaver, especially in these economic times," said Zaino, who started working for Foxwoods as a consultant in 1998 and started his own North Stonington-based company, Frank Zaino & Associates, in 2001. He now employs 10 people.

"We're very glad to be working on the project," Perry Lorenz, president and chief executive officer of A/Z Corp., said. "It's a great project. We're hoping to substantially complete construction in February and test-firing in the spring."

Lorenz said his firm has helped install a number of cogeneration systems in Connecticut, including those at Hamilton Sundstrand in Windsor Locks, Sikorsky Aircraft in Stratford and Pfizer.