Electricity generation in Cheshire?

With skyrocketing energy costs, should Cheshire consider generating its own power?

Last year saw the passage of some pretty significant "energy" legislation in Hartford. The bill included enabling legislation for town's to generate their own electricity using microgrids.

This September 2007 article by Lyn Corum gives an idea of the thought process used by Stamford as they consider building a microgrid to generate their own electricity:

A summer heat wave in 2006 forced Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) to cut power to thousands of Stamford residents and businesses. Given this experience, the City of Stamford is taking the initiative to develop a generating facility in its government center—also known as City Hall—and intends to invite owners of other nearby buildings to hook up to the power plant.

Michael Freimuth, Stamford’s director of economic development, says the growth occurring in southwestern Connecticut is demanding more and more power. While service companies with large electrical demands have been moving into the area, residents have been acquiring electronics with monster power draws. The power demand has become huge, while no new generation has come into the state. The two utilities are now in the distribution business, having sold their generation to private companies. Moreover, building new transmission has become a problem politically due to the not-in-my-backyard syndrome.

Freimuth says the first purpose of the planned generating facility will be to provide critical city services. The emergency operating center is located in the nine-story government center, and the city cannot risk having it go down during power collapses. The building does have an emergency generator, but there is concern the outage may last long enough that the generator will run out of diesel. Furthermore, says Freimuth, the government center offers a cooling facility for seniors and others to escape the summer heat, especially during power outages, and it is critical the air-conditioning system stay operational.

So what do you think?

Should Cheshire generate power?
	Yes, if we can save money
	No, you guys screw up everything!
	Maybe, discussions are harmless
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I'm wondering if it would make sense to have a microgrid for the Senior Center and main firehouse? Perhaps then expand it to Maplecroft? Dunno... but at least having things like solar power at the Senior Center (and firehouse) is worth serious consideration.

Tim White