MARCY: CSC Bolsters Power Grid Ahead of Summer Peak Use— The Power Authority in early April completed construction of the first phase of the world's most advanced device for controlling both voltage and power flow on transmission lines. NYPA's Convertible Static Compensator (CSC) will allow reliable delivery of an additional 60 megawatts of electricity through a key Utica-to-Albany transmission route, presently constrained, in advance of the peak summer usage period. The CSC will help to advance Governor George E. Pataki’s efforts to revitalize New York’s economy by helping to make more power available at competitive prices. With Phase One completed, NYPA turned over operational control of the CSC to the New York Independent System Operator, which operates the state's wholesale energy market. Phase Two, scheduled for completion next year, will further reduce strain on the Utica-to-Albany bottleneck, enabling increased delivery of a total of about 240 megawatts of electricity over all transmission corridors in the state. The CSC is a collaborative $48 million effort by the Power Authority, which has invested about $35 million; Siemens Transmission and Distribution, which is building the system; the Electric Power Research Institute and more than 30 electric utilities in the United States, Canada and other countries.

BUFFALO: Energy Upgrades Planned at More Than 20 Schools— More than 20 buildings housing pre-kindergarten to high school students in Buffalo would obtain automated energy management systems, and most would benefit from brighter, more efficient interior and exterior lighting, as part of improvements proposed by the Power Authority under Governor George E. Pataki’s energy-efficiency initiative. Subject to state Education Department approval, work would get under way this summer. Planned for completion late in 2002, the project, one of NYPA's most comprehensive, would save the school district several hundred thousand dollars in annual energy costs. Energy upgrades previously implemented by NYPA in Buffalo schools have produced about $600,000 in annual savings. The new multimillion dollar program would improve the efficiency of electrical, mechanical and lighting systems throughout the school district.

NEW YORK: Minority Business Group Backs PowerNow!—The National Minority Business Council, Inc. (NMBC), with more than 1,000 members in the New York metropolitan area, has endorsed the Power Authority's PowerNow! program to place small, clean gas-turbine generators at six sites in New York City and one on Long Island to avert power shortages this summer. In a letter to the Power Authority, John F. Robinson, the NMBC's president and chief executive officer, stated that the organization "enthusiastically supports" the NYPA generators, which he described as "essential to the continued growth of our state economy." "As an organization that supports small business owners we know that having power is fundamental to the survival of any business," he wrote. "A power shortage could threaten [NMBC members'] very existence and have severe economic repercussions in the communities where they are based. Needless to say, thousands of jobs would be placed in jeopardy."

NEW YORK: Energy Upgrades to Brighten NYPD Precincts—An ambitious six-precinct New York City Police Department energy upgrade will get under way in May, when NYPA crews begin work on the "total building envelopes" of deteriorated stations in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. High-efficiency lighting, electric motors, and heating and cooling, window and roofing upgrades are scheduled in a program to improve both energy efficiency and the "public face" of the nation's largest police force. The $1.1 million program, which will produce annual energy savings of more than $84,000, calls for work in the 24th and 26th precincts, Manhattan; the 68th, 72nd and 77th precincts, Brooklyn; and the 109th precinct, Queens. Twenty additional station houses are scheduled for similar renovations in phase two of the program, starting this fall and continuing through the spring of 2002. The median age of NYPD's 97 station houses is 53, and nine were constructed prior to 1899. Earlier this year, the Power Authority completed installation of a new electric centralized cooling system to improve energy efficiency and meet increasing cooling demands at NYPD headquarters. NYPA has also installed a natural gas-fired fuel cell to meet the full power needs of the department's Central Park precinct. The ongoing program is part of Governor George E. Pataki’s energy-efficiency initiative.

LISBON: NYPA Helps Fund Bicentennial Celebration— Lisbon, the oldest town in St. Lawrence County, will stage its bicentennial celebration in mid-August with financial assistance from the Power Authority. A $10,000 grant to help defray bicentennial celebration expenses was presented to Lisbon Town Supervisor Roger A. Watters by Robert Hadler, NYPA's community relations manager for Northern New York, on behalf of the Power Authority's Chairman Joseph J. Seymour, the other trustees and the staff at the St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project. The festivities, which will start on Friday, Aug. 17, and run through that weekend, will feature a parade with marching bands, fireworks and a championship horseshoe tournament. In addition, a hardcover book will be published on the history of Lisbon.

In the Community: Cathy Blood, senior community relations representative, spoke to the Niagara Falls Retired Seniors Group on The Power Authority: Benefiting Western New York, John Duke Hall, Niagara Falls, April 11….Bill Siddon, senior community relations representative, answered questions concerning electricity industry careers at a job fair sponsored by the Massena Chamber of Commerce, Massena, April 10....NYPA President Eugene Zeltmann participated in a panel discussion with other utility industry executives on the energy situation facing Southeastern New York in the coming months, at a breakfast sponsored by the Westchester County Association at the Renaissance Westchester Hotel, Harrison, April 10....Carol Rodino, community relations regional manager, presented an overview of the Power Authority to an engineering class at Mohawk Valley Community College, Utica, and gave the students a tour of NYPA's Energy Control Center and its Convertible Static Compensator in Marcy, April 9….Over 300 people viewed a NYPA electric vehicle at the second annual Eggspedition, sponsored by the Niagara Falls Youth Bureau, Hyde Park, Niagara Falls, April 7….Luis Rodriguez, director of public and government affairs for Southeastern New York, was principal for a day at P.S. 84, Queens, April 5....U.S. Military Academy cadets enrolled in a water resources class toured NYPA’s Blenheim-Gilboa Power Project, Gilboa, April 4....Community outreach efforts on the small turbine-generators that NYPA is installing in New York City included presentations at St. Mary's School in Staten Island, March 28, and Brooklyn’s Community Board #1 on April 12 and March 27....Since the first of April, NYPA staff members have presented energy-education programs at schools in Hogansburg and Mooers in Northern New York and in Niagara Falls and Buffalo in the western part of the state....Students from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, and Cooper Union, New York City, toured NYPA’s Niagara Power Project, Lewiston, March 31.