NYPA's Richard M. Flynn Plant Marks 100,000 Hour Milestone for Generating Unit

Contact
Connie M. Cullen
914-390-8196
connie.cullen@nypa.gov

January 11, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HOLTSVILLE—At 4:00 am Thursday, January 6, the New York Power Authority’s (NYPA) electric generating unit for its Richard M. Flynn Power Plant here became the first Siemens V84.2 gas turbine in the world to reach 100,000 operating hours. There are 73 of these units in the world. During this remarkable run, the plant was available and running approximately 95% of the time.

“The credit for achieving this historic milestone belongs to the dedicated Power Authority staff at Flynn,” said Louis P. Ciminelli, chairman, NYPA. “Through expert maintenance, detailed attention to operations procedures, a commitment to safety and professionalism, NYPA’s staff has made outstanding improvements to the Flynn plant’s performance and reliability which plays a critical role in serving the electric needs of Long Islanders.”

The life of any gas turbine is measured in operating hours. Over ten years use, this NYPA unit has operated almost non-stop, except for maintenance and inspections. This operating record has been achieved through NYPA’s efforts to effectively monitor the equipment and its in-use conditions to sustain longer operating periods. Lengthening the time needed between refurbishments saves maintenance dollars and increases the availability of the generating unit to reliably produce electricity.

The Flynn Power Plant, named after a former NYPA Chairman, is a 135 megawatt (MW) combined-cycle electric plant which began commercial operation in May 1994. Annually this plant produces about 1.1 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity and since its inception has produced over 11 million MWh of electricity. NYPA has also invested over $100 million in scores of energy efficiency projects on Long Island and is a major supporter of the Long Island Regional Envirothon, a series of competitions among schools involving environmental topics.

NYPA is the nation’s largest state-owned electric utility. The Power Authority owns and operates 17 generating facilities, including the Flynn Power Plant, across New York State, with a total capacity of over 5600 MW. It also owns and operates over 1,400 circuit miles of transmission lines in various parts of the state. The Power Authority is a national leader in advancing energy efficiency and the development of clean energy technologies and electric vehicles.

Siemens Westinghouse Power Generation is a division of the international Siemens Company. Power generations systems from Siemens are used in the production of more than one-third of the electricity in the United States.

To mark the achievement of being first in the world to reach 100,000 operating hours for its Siemens generating unit, a group of New York Power Authority (NYPA) staff members gather in the Control Room at NYPA’s Flynn Power Plant in Holtsville, NY, with Michael Medvec, front right, the plant’s recently retired Director of Operations, who served at Flynn since its construction in the early 1990s, and Russell Bahm, front left, who took over Flynn’s helm on January 1, who had worked with Medvec throughout his tenure

High resolution version of photo (1 megabyte)