A 400 kW fuel cell is providing 95 percent of the electricity for a Stop & Shop supermarket in Connecticut.
The Stop & Shop in East Torrington, Conn., commissioned the fuel cell in June of last year. Since then it has produced over 1.7 million kWh of electricity, Supermarket News reports.
The fuel cell also produces thermal energy, and has reduced the electric and natural gas utility bills for the store by about 50 percent.
The fuel cell, a UTC Power PureCell System Model 400, was the first for the supermarket chain. The retailer received a grant towards the fuel cell’s installation from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund's On-Site Renewable Distributed Generation Program.
"The fuel cell technology is the latest step we've taken to ensure we're doing everything we can to lower our impact to the environment in each community we serve," said vice president for store planning Jihad Rizkallah, in a statement.
Last summer Stop & Shop announced the installation of solar panels on eight of its stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey, designed to reduce the energy consumption at these stores by more than seven percent.
The company has made a commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by 20 percent by 2015, using 2008 as a baseline.