The company that owns the Millstone Power Station in Waterford announced today that it has begun commercial operations at its Dominion Bridgeport Fuel Cell facility and the Dominion Somers Solar Center.

Together, the two facilities produce approximately 20 megawatts of clean energy, enough power for approximately 20,000 homes, Dominion said in a news release.

"Dominion is pleased to be adding 20 megawatts of renewable energy in Connecticut to our existing 2,100 megawatts of carbon-free power from our Millstone Power Station," said David Christian, Dominion Generation chief executive officer. "These stations are generating clean, reliable electricity for Connecticut."

Dominion Bridgeport Fuel Cell, located in downtown Bridgeport along Interstate 95 and the Northeast rail corridor, is producing 14.9 megawatts of clean energy using an electro-chemical process that converts natural gas into electricity. The fuel cell is part of Project 150, a program sponsored by the state and supported by the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority to increase renewable and clean energy projects in Connecticut by 150 megawatts. The authority is the nation's first full-scale clean energy finance authority that leverages public and private funds to drive investment and scale up clean energy deployment in Connecticut.

Fuel Cell Energy Inc. will operate and maintain the facility under a services contract with Dominion, which will sell the output of the fuel cell power station and solar center to Connecticut Light & Power under fixed power purchase agreements.

The Somers Solar Center was built by Prime Solutions, a Connecticut contractor, and occupies a 50-acre site. It consists of 23,150 Kyocera solar panels that generate roughly 5 megawatts of renewable energy. The center is one of three solar projects that will be put into service by Dominion in 2013. The others are near Augusta, Ga., and Indianapolis, Ind. For information about the solar project, visit: https://www.dom.com/about/stations/renewable/solar/connecticut-solar-power-project.jsp.