CT Science Center getting fuel cell

The Connecticut Science Center in downtown Hartford will begin installation Thursday of a hydrogen fuel cell to light, heat and cool the $165 million facility.

United Technologies Corp.'s UTC Power division is scheduled to deliver the 200-kilowatt unit at noon.  Installation will be completed around November, said science center spokesman Ed Main.

Once activated, the science center will be the nation's first museum or science center to rely on a fuel cell for most of its power demand during operating hours, Main said. When the facility's power need dwindles after hours, he said, the science center will sell the cell's surplus electricity to the power grid.

A price tag for the fuel cell was not immediately available, but Main said the science center and UTC Power are working out a cost-sharing arrangement for the technology.

The state-of-the-art facility opened June 12 at 250 Columbus Blvd. and Grove Street, across from the Connecticut Convention Center, to teach visitors hands-on about science. It features 150 interactive exhibits, 10 galleries and a 206-seat 3-D movie theater.

About 120,000 people from all 169 Connecticut cities and towns and from all four corners of the globe have visited the science center since opening day, Main said.