NYPA President Cites Authority's Benefits to Region's Economy and Environment
Contact Stephen Shoenholz 914-390-8165 stephen.shoenholz@nypa.gov Mr. Zeltmann's remarks
September 6, 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SCHENECTADY—The Capital District’s economy and environment are benefiting from varied New York Power Authority (NYPA) programs as the state’s electricity industry heads further into a new era of deregulation and competition, NYPA President and Chief Operating Officer Eugene W. Zeltmann said here Thursday.
Zeltmann told the Schenectady Rotary Club that about 18,400 jobs in the region depend on low-cost Power Authority electricity supplied to businesses and non-profit organizations under Gov. George E. Pataki’s Power for Jobs program and other initiatives. He cited recipients ranging from Power Palet and MVP in Schenectady to Codino’s Italian Foods in Scotia and Albany Molecular Research.
"The rapid increase in demand for power over the past few years has reflected the needs of an expanding economy," said Zeltmann, who noted that more than 821,000 new jobs have been created in New York State since Governor Pataki took office.
"The biggest single challenge facing our industry as it moves into the new age of deregulation is to make sure that we have enough electricity to sustain and drive economic growth and to enable consumers to reap the full benefits of competition," Zeltmann told the audience at the Ramada Inn.
Citing energy efficiency’s key role in meeting those objectives, Zeltmann said the Power Authority has invested about $20 million in energy-saving measures at such Capital District public facilities as Schenectady City Hall, the Scotia-Glenville Schools, Empire State Plaza, Albany International Airport and the University at Albany. He said the projects save taxpayers more than $3 million a year and help to improve air quality.
"Statewide, the Power Authority is investing more than $100 million this year in projects using energy-efficient technologies and clean, new energy sources," Zeltmann said. "That’s more than 2 l/2 times the figure for 1994—the year before Governor Pataki took office."
Zeltmann said Schenectady has figured prominently in NYPA’s efforts to put more than 200 electric and hybrid-electric vehicles on the road for itself and its customers. He said the total includes 11 hybrid-electric buses in New York City, for which the concept was developed at General Electric here, and noted that the Power Authority is working with GE on more-advanced hybrid buses. He said that NYPA has also helped to demonstrate or place in service electric postal delivery trucks and electric school buses assembled at Super Steel in Schenectady.
Zeltmann said that, in addition to energy efficiency, a comprehensive power-supply strategy must include efforts "to strengthen transmission systems and build environmentally clean power plants as quickly as possible."
He noted that NYPA has completed the first phase of the world’s most advanced transmission control device—a convertible static compensator—at its Marcy Substation near Utica, enabling more electricity to be carried on the heavily used transmission lines between Utica and Albany and on the statewide system. In addition, he said, NYPA installed 10 small, clean gas-turbine generators in New York City and another on Long Island in a successful effort to avert threatened blackouts this summer.
