Assembly Urged to Back Gas Turbines to Avert New York City Blackouts
Contact: Jack Murphy (914) 390-8198 murphy.j@nypa.gov
March 22, 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK—Representatives of three state agencies urged the New York State Assembly on Thursday to support the New York Power Authority’s (NYPA) program to install 10 small, clean gas-turbine generators in New York City in time to help stave off blackouts and price spikes this summer.
"A delay of even one day would bring us that much closer to the kinds of blackouts, brownouts and price spikes that have created the crisis in California," said Eugene W. Zeltmann, NYPA’s president and chief operating officer. "Our gas-turbine initiative is in keeping with the Power Authority’s longstanding tradition of meeting major energy needs in New York State, and doing so with utmost respect and concern for the environment."
Zeltmann said at an Assembly hearing that NYPA is moving ahead quickly with installation of the new units, to be fueled by natural gas, in an effort to meet the crucial summer deadline while complying with all environmental standards and conducting an ambitious public outreach program.
"We have had more than 25 face-to-face meetings with public officials, community leaders and members of the public," he said. "And that doesn’t count the many, many telephone conversations we’ve had with interested people."
Noting that the gas-turbine generators will be the cleanest power sources in the city, Zeltmann said that NYPA will invest an additional $50 million for the express purpose of providing the most advanced available equipment to control air emissions and noise.
"We have also committed to offset even the minimal air emissions from these plants by reducing emissions from other New York City sources," he said. "We’re looking at various options to accomplish that and have asked residents of the communities in which the units will be located to provide their own ideas."
Joining Zeltmann in testifying at the Assembly hearing were Maureen O. Helmer, chairman of the state Public Service Commission, and Glen Bruening, executive deputy commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The hearing at the City University Graduate Center was conducted by the Assembly committees on Environmental Conservation; Energy; and Corporations, Authorities and Commissions.
"There is a real shortage of generating capacity in New York City, a shortage that undermines the provision of safe and reliable electric service to the city and, following the laws of supply and demand, also serves to increase prices," Helmer said.
"The addition of clean, efficient generation will provide New York with the in-city supply it needs due to constrained transmission lines, provide sufficient energy to assure an adequate supply, bolster the reliability of the system, exert downward pressure on prices, and serve to reduce the emissions of sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides."
Bruening said that "the NYPA facilities represent the next generation of clean burning, state-of-the-art power plants that will allow New York State to meet its demand for additional power while protecting public health and the environment. NYPA’s commitment to mitigate emissions from these plants goes above and beyond our regulatory requirements and demonstrates their dedication to operating these low-emission turbines in the most environmentally sound manner possible."
"By reaching out to the affected communities, NYPA will ensure that its mitigation measures have the greatest benefit in the areas nearest the facilities," Bruening said.
He said the units will emit 400 times less nitrogen oxides, 140 times less particulates and 30 times less sulfur dioxide than many existing facilities with similar generating capacity and that equipment to be installed by NYPA will reduce carbon monoxide emissions by 75 percent.
The gas-turbine generators will provide just over 400 megawatts of additional generating capacity in the city, a figure virtually equal to the in-city generating shortfall projected in a recent report by the New York Independent System Operator (ISO), which administers the state’s wholesale power markets. The ISO requires that at least 80 percent of New York City’s power supply be produced within the city because of the transmission constraints that limit supplies from outside sources. Its projection did not include the NYPA units.
Zeltmann said that, in addition to installing the new units, NYPA will continue to expand its ambitious energy efficiency programs in New York City. He said these initiatives, in which the Power Authority has invested about $300 million at public facilities in the city, have averted the need for two additional gas turbines. Projects include installation of energy-efficient lighting, motors and heating; removal of polluting coal-burning furnaces at public schools; and installation of super-efficient refrigerators in city Housing Authority apartments.
In addition, he said NYPA will again implement a program to encourage its government and business customers to reduce their use of electricity in peak-demand periods this summer. He also noted that NYPA has installed clean fuel cell power plants at the Central Park police station and North Central Bronx Hospital, as well as rooftop solar energy projects at locations in the Bronx and Queens.
The 10 gas turbines will be located at six sites in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island—a technically feasible site in Manhattan could not be identified. NYPA is also installing a unit on Long Island in Brentwood, Suffolk County
