NYPA President Zeltmann Cites Agency's Benefits to State, L. I.
Contact Stephen Shoenholz 914-390-8165 stephen.shoenholz@nypa.gov Mr. Zeltmann's remarks
July 12, 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDFORD—The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is playing a major role in easing the state’s move to a competitive electricity industry, Eugene W. Zeltmann, NYPA’s president and chief operating officer, said here Thursday.
Under Gov. George E. Pataki’s leadership, NYPA is promoting energy efficiency, strengthening the power transmission network and developing clean new energy sources to help assure that the state will have an adequate and environmentally sensitive power supply in the years ahead, Zeltmann said at a Long Island Energy Summit conducted by the Town of Brookhaven.
"The biggest single challenge facing our industry as it moves into the new age of deregulation is to make sure we have enough electricity to sustain and drive economic growth and to enable consumers to reap the full benefits of competition," Zeltmann told the Town Hall audience. "The rapid increase in demand for power over the past few years has reflected the needs of an expanded economy and, most dramatically, the pervasive use of computers and other electronic devices."
Zeltmann noted that more than 821,000 jobs have been created in New York State under Governor Pataki. This positive increase in the job market also translates into higher demand for electricity.
NYPA is helping to meet this increased demand, Zeltmann said, by supplying electricity under Governor Pataki’s Power for JobsTM program and other initiatives. He said that power supplied through these programs helps to support nearly 450,000 jobs throughout the state, including more than 25,500 at such Long Island employers as Brookhaven National Laboratory, Hazeltine Corp., Kozy Shack, Symbol Technologies and Central Suffolk Hospital.
Zeltmann said the New York Power Authority will invest more than $100 million statewide this year in energy-efficiency and clean-energy projects, more than 2 l/2 times the total for 1994—the last year before Governor Pataki took office. This follows completion of about $75 million worth of energy-saving projects at public facilities on Long Island alone, with annual savings of more than $12 million to taxpayers. In addition, he said, NYPA operates 19 solar energy projects, including five on Long Island, and three fuel cell power plants.
He said a recent Executive Order by Governor Pataki that established ambitious targets for renewable energy use and energy efficiency in state facilities should give added impetus to NYPA’s efforts. The order requires state agencies to obtain at least 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2005 and 20 percent by 2010 and also sets aggressive energy-efficiency goals.
A further boost, Zeltmann said, would come through enactment of legislation that the Governor has proposed to help schools and state and local government agencies work with NYPA and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to secure energy-efficient technologies.
Zeltmann said NYPA is installing the world’s most advanced device for controlling power flows on transmission lines--enabling more electricity to be carried on existing lines and reducing the need to build new ones. The device, known as a convertible static compensator and housed at a NYPA substation near Utica, has already increased capacity on the state’s transmission system by 114 megawatts. When the $48 million project is fully operational next summer, the total increase, including that already achieved, will be 240 megawatts—enough to serve more than 200,000 homes.
Zeltmann cited NYPA’s "extraordinary effort" over the past several months to install 10 small clean gas-turbine generators in New York City and an 11th at Pilgrim State Hospital in Brentwood for this summer to help avoid blackouts and price spikes like those in California.
"The situation was particularly urgent because, for both Long Island and New York City, transmission constraints limit the amount of power that can be brought in from outside sources," Zeltmann said.
He said NYPA has invested an extra $55 million, $5 million for each generator, to provide the most advanced available environmental controls. Increases over existing emissions and noise levels will thus be imperceptible in virtually all cases, he said.
