FAIRFIELD COUNTY
BUSINESS JOURNAL YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS | westfaironline.com
July 14, 2014 | VOL. 50, No. 28
Fuel cell park touts clean energy, grid resilience
FCBJ this week MEMRY SERVES Medical-component manufacturer ups Bethel presence … 3 AHHHHH Posh pampers in historic Darien venue … 7
BY CRYSTAL KANG ckang@westfairinc.com
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THAT SPARE BEDROOM Starting a home business, part two … 12
anbury-based FuelCell Energy Inc. and Dominion Resources Inc., a power and energy company headquartered in Richmond, Va., recently invited government officials to tour the Dominion Bridgeport clean energy power plant and view one of North America’s largest fuel cell parks, which has been operating since December. In a state where there’s a diversity of clean energy resources, Dominion sees itself as a leader and its fuel cell park as a model for Connecticut to move forward with energy initiatives, said Kevin Hennessy, director of federal, state and local affairs at Dominion.
SHAKESPEARE AND MORE FCBuzz enlivens the business conversation … 18
MEDIA PARTNER
» Fuel cell, page 6
Kurt Goddard of FuelCell Energy gives a tour of the 1.5-acre fuel cell park in Bridgeport.
GREEN RELIEF IN STAMFORD GROUP ‘HUMANIZES THE URBAN EXPERIENCE’ WITH PARK IMPROVEMENTS BY LEIF SKODNICK lskodnick@westfairinc.com
THE RIPPOWAM RIVER ambles along just west of Washington Boulevard in Stamford, winding under the Broad Street bridge and into the Mill River Park and Greenway, a verdant space separating West Stamford from downtown.
Natural vegetation grows along the sloped river banks in the park, the tall grasses, wildflowers and trees creating a habitat for rabbits and birds. And while the river neatly slices through the park, babbling over the rocks as it flows toward Stamford Harbor and the Long Island Sound, 10 years ago this park was in a state of decay and the river was
choked with sediment. In the last decade, the Mill River Collaborative has worked to transform the landscape along the Rippowam River to a ribbon of parkland for Stamford’s residents. In May 2013, the first phase of the project opened between Broad Street and Main st. Walking into the park from
Washington Boulevard, Mill River Collaborative Executive Director Milton Puryear recalled what the space used to look like. “There was a full dam here, plus a 1,000-foot-long mill pond with concrete walls on both sides,” Puryear said. “Inside, there was 18,000 cubic yards of sediment with stuff growing out of » Stamford, page 16
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13 American family, 2014 U.S. Trust’s Marion Schmeelk on modern financial reality.
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20 Newsmakers See and be seen on the way up the ladder.
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