WHITE PLAINS: NYPA Increases Funding for Energy Efficiency—To keep pace with the growing demand for energy conservation, the Power Authority has added $50 million to the amount of funding available to its customers statewide for energy-efficiency and clean-energy projects. The total available for low-cost financing for such initiatives is now $400 million. The undertakings to date include nearly 1,500 wide-ranging projects at 2,400 facilities such as schools, police and fire stations, hospitals, museums, libraries and government buildings across New York State. This year NYPA’s Energy Services Program reached the $1 billion mark in energy-efficiency investments over 20 years. The projects reduce oil consumption by about 1.8 million barrels per year while avoiding annual greenhouse gas emissions of 750,000 tons. NYPA customers collectively have seen energy costs reduced by more than $95 million a year, and peak load energy use has gone down 200 megawatts—enough electricity to power 160,000 homes.

BUFFALO: Low-Cost Niagara Hydropower Helps Creates Jobs—Power allocations totaling 3,250 kilowatts (kw) have been approved by the Power Authority for two Western New York manufacturers in support of plans to add 94 new jobs amid significant capital investments. New York Tungsten, a joint venture of Buffalo Tungsten and Silver Eagle Technology, will create 60 jobs at its new $6 million manufacturing facility in Depew in return for NYPA’s allocation of 2,500 kw from the Niagara Power Project. Irwin Industrial Tool Co., a worldwide manufacturer of hand-held torches and accessories, best known as Bernzomatic, had been considering a move to China but will remain in Medina, adding 34 jobs to its current work force of 213 as a result of the 750-kw allocation. Both companies were recommended for the power allocation program by the Western New York Advisory Group consisting of NYPA, National Grid, Empire State Development Corp., the Buffalo Niagara Enterprise and Niagara County. Nearly 44,000 jobs in Western New York are linked to allocations from the Niagara project.

BRONX: Fuel Cell Power to Assist Zoo’s Endangered Lemurs— A 200-kilowatt NYPA fuel cell will help provide dependable power and heat for several species of lemurs when the Bronx Zoo’s historic Lion House reopens in 2008. To be named Madagascar!, the exhibit will also feature reptiles and amphibians from the remote island off Africa’s east coast, the world’s sole existing habitat for lemurs. The natural-gas-fired fuel cell, which will produce electricity through a chemical process combining hydrogen and oxygen without combustion, will create 700,000 Btu of heat while emitting virtually no pollution, and supply about 30 percent of the building’s electricity needs. NYPA has provided an identical fuel cell to the New York Aquarium at Coney Island, one of 12 fuel cells in NYPA projects around the city. NYPA also announced a donation to provide for care and feeding of the lemur population when the new exhibit opens. The Madagascar! exhibit will be in the first landmark building in the city to be environmentally certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.

NEW YORK CITY: NYPA Approves Power Supply Proposal— A proposal that would ensure continued supplies of reliable, economical electricity for NYPA’s public customers in New York City has been approved by Power Authority trustees. The decision authorizes NYPA staff members to begin negotiations with FPL Energy and Hudson Transmission Partners, both of which responded to a request for proposals issued by the Power Authority last year. Under the plan, FPL would provide 500 megawatts of electricity for NYPA’s governmental customers in New York City from the AES Red Oak power plant in Sayreville, N.J. The power would be delivered by a new seven-mile power line to be built by Hudson Transmission Partners between Bergen County, N.J., and Con Edison’s West 49th Street substation. State regulations require that 80 percent of New York City’s peak electric demand be met with generation located within city limits. Using a combination of the new power line and transmission service through the PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission system, the Red Oak plant’s electricity would qualify as “in-city capacity” under rules set by the New York Independent System Operator. Plans call for the new power line to begin operation by 2010.

NORTH BLENHEIM: NYPA Contributes to Emergency Funding—The Power Authority has approved a five-year, $31,000 agreement to help offset the costs of emergency preparedness in the Schoharie Valley, home to NYPA’s Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project. “The safety of our employees and residents in Schoharie County is vitally important and we are proud to once again work to meet this goal,” said NYPA Chairman Frank McCullough, Jr. The funding will be allocated to the Schoharie County Office of Emergency Management. The $31,000 is in addition to $20,000 in annual support NYPA provides several volunteer fire departments and ambulance corps in the area of the Blenheim-Gilboa project. The new agreement was requested earlier this year by Earl VanWormer, chairman of the Schoharie County Board of Supervisors, who wants the funding to be used to operate a new early warning siren system installed along Schoharie Creek. In the past NYPA donated a defibrillator to the Schoharie County Sheriff’s Department in 2004 and $10,000 to help the county purchase a hovercraft rescue vehicle in 1996, following severe flooding