First Niagara Finances $3.8 Million Loan for Construction of MicroGrid in Bridgeport

First Niagara Bank, N.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY), today announced it has closed on $3.8MM with Bridgeport MicroGrid, LLC in permanent financing for the planning, development and installation of a natural gas microgrid in Bridgeport.

The microgrid is part of a municipal pilot program through the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP); natural gas microgrids are designed to provide continuous power to critical public facilities in the event of a major power failure.

The Bridgeport MicroGrid will provide a central, independent and local generating facility to supply and distribute power in island and parallel modes to City Hall, Police Headquarters and the Golden Hill Senior Center. The MicroGrid in general will serve approximately 144,000 citizens of Bridgeport. In addition, the generators' excess heat will be utilized to provide both heating and cooling by way of an absorption chiller to City Hall, Police headquarters and the Cabaret Buildings. The microgrid will use Virtual Net Metering to apply a credit to other City Facilities for any excess electricity generated.

“First Niagara believes in contributing to projects and initiatives that will ultimately help the communities we serve become better places to live and work,” said David Cantor, SVP and Business Banking Team Leader for First Niagara’s New England Region. “This is an excellent example of the type of initiative that will have a positive effect on the people who live in Bridgeport and those responsible for providing critical municipal resources to the city.”

OR&L Construction in Branford, along with representatives from Controlled Air in Branford and Power Island Energy, LLC in Jacksonville, Florida, have formed Bridgeport MicroGrid, LLC, which will be responsible for the design, installation, maintenance, future advancements and improvements to the grid.

“During a natural disaster or emergency, it’s important to make sure that backup power within a city is online and able to provide to the City’s critical facilities,” said Todd Renz, President of OR&L Construction. “We are excited to launch this new technology in Connecticut’s largest city and look forward to assuring residents that, when they need them, these resources will always be provided.”

In addition to First Niagara’s financing package, Bridgeport MicroGrid, LLC also received $500,000 in sub debt from the CT Green Bank; the City of Bridgeport also received a $2.9MM grant from DEEP to support the project.

The microgrid is expected to be operational by July, 2017.