Mayor, Building Congress discuss city's energy needs.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg met with members of the New York Building Congress Energy Committee to detail the city's policy on major energy issues and discuss the city's role in meeting current and future energy needs. Among the issues discussed were energy upgrades, cleaner power and ways to add capacity and build stronger conservation measures in New York City.

The city's Action Plan presented at the meeting included endorsing reenactment of the state's power plant siting law, Article X, and assisting in the siting of power plants in the city; advocating regulatory initiatives that encourage long-range power purchase contracts and financing of power plant, electric transmission and natural gas pipeline projects; implementing programs that promote energy efficiency and conservation, as well as clean distributed generation and renewable energy; and supporting prudent investment by Con Edison and KeySpan in building New York City's energy distribution infrastructure.

"New York City's consumption of energy is significant--and it's growing," said Bloomberg. "Our goal is to ensure that New Yorkers continue to have an adequate supply of clean and reliable power. To do that, we need energy upgrades and more capacity from more efficient Sources."

John J. Gilbert, III, chief operating officer of Rudin Management and co-chairman of the New York Building Congress Energy Committee, said, "As we begin the reconstruction of Lower Manhattan and prepare for a strong recovery, we must also be ready to meet the electricity demands of a growing 21st century economy. It's reassuring that mayor Bloomberg recognizes the city's long-term energy supply gap and has committed himself to addressing this critical issue."

"Mayor Bloomberg has shown great leadership in recognizing that a strong, reliable infrastructure is one of New York City's greatest assets," said Eugene R. McGrath, chairman and chief executive officer of Con Edison.

It is estimated the city will need to in crease existing capacity by about 3,000 megawatts by 2008 to accommodate growing demand, replace older plants and encourage lower consumer prices. There are a limited number of potential sites for new facilities since they require multi-acre parcels zoned for manufacturing and have to be located within close proximity of gas lines and connections to New York City's electrical grids.

It is preferred that power companies "repower" and expand existing facilities, instead of building new plants. That will require redesigning and refitting existing facilities to increase generating capacity. The Bloomberg Administration will continue to work with Con Edison and other owners of existing generation plants in the city to inventory their holdings with the goal of repowering and expanding facilities.

Kate Ascher, executive vice president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, opened the discussion by saying, "Repowering existing plants is especially attractive. It eliminates the necessity of locating new sites within the city and results in both higher efficiency and cleaner facilities. In addition, repowering helps to ensure that energy prices remain affordable for all New Yorkers."

Three examples of repowering projects currently under construction are KeySpan Ravenswood, Con Edison East River Plant Repowering, and New York Power Authority's Poletti Expansion. These projects will be operational by 2005 and will provide the City a total of 900 new megawatts of power. In addition, two innovative ideas for bringing additional power to the city are being actively considered. SCS Energy proposed building a 1,000-megawatt plant on an existing brownfield site in Astoria, Queens, having secured a siting approval certificate and a contract from Con Edison to deliver 500 megawatts to the Utility by early 2006. PSEG Power is also Seeking to build a transmission line across the Hudson that would deliver another 600 megawatts to the City by 2005. PSEG obtained a state approval certificate and is in the pre-construction phase. These projects, coupled with those under construction, would add about 2,500 megawatts to the City grid, an increase of almost 25% over present capacity.

The city, however, needs to do more to encourage private investment in additional plants and other infrastructure projects to produce the additional megawatts needed by 2008. To close that gap, the city will need additional private investment in power generation plants; new transmission lines; additional natural gas pipeline capacity; improved efficiency and energy conservation programs; small, clean distributed generation technologies; and more renewable energy from hydroelectric plants, wind and solar energy.

In conclusion, the mayor called for the creation of an inter-agency Energy Policy Task Force, headed by EDC, to coordinate and execute the city's proposed action plan. The mayor was joined at the meeting by Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff; Economic Development Corporation president Andrew M. Alper, executive vice president Kate Ascher and senior vice president of Energy Gil Quiniones; KeySpan chairman Robert B. Catell; Consolidated Edison chairman Eugene R. McGrath; Rudin Management's John J. Gilbert III; William A. Harkins, an independent industry consultant; Richard T. Anderson, New York Building Congress; Ashok Gupta, Natural Resources Defense Council; Edward J. Malloy, Building and Construction Trades of Greater New York; William Rudin and Jack Rudin of Rudin Management; Marolyn Davenport, Real Estate Board of New York; and Kathryn Wylde, Partnership for New York City.