New report warns power may be in short supply by 25'.

A coalition of business and civic organizations has released a report warning that New York City faces a looming electricity shortage, which must be addressed to ensure sufficient energy is available to accommodate all of the major construction projects planned for the next 20 years.

According to the report, entitled "Electricity Outlook: Powering New York City's Economic Future," New York City needs an additional 6,000 to 7,000 megawatts of new electricity resources by 2025, as well as new infrastructure to carry and distribute that electricity.

The report also warns that a critical threshold looms as early as 2010. Based on current projections for rising power demand within the City, the available supply of locally-produced electricity will fall substantially below the State-mandated level between 2010 and 2015, if new power plants and/or dedicated transmission lines are not built and operational.

The New York Building Congress prepared the report in consultation with the Association for a Better New York, the Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Partnership for New York City and the Real Estate Board of New York.

"The Bloomberg Administration is committed to ensuring that the City's long-term economic growth is maintained by a sufficient supply of clean and reliable power," said Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding Daniel L. Doctoroff. "Our energy plan calls for solutions that include energy efficiency, high-performance building design, clean on-site generation, the repowering of existing power plants and the development of new transmission lines and generation plants. We will continue to pursue projects that are consistent with the City's environmental and land use goals to make sure we have sufficient capacity to meet the demands of current and future generations of New Yorkers."

On July 27, 2005, peak demand in New York City reached a record 11,304 MW. The report credits recent government actions to increase supply with helping to avert potential shortages during that period. However, the report notes that the sharp increase in demand was accompanied by sharp energy supply price increases for business and residents.

"To address the dual problems of global warming pollution and growing energy needs, we have no choice but to expand our energy efficiency and green building initiatives and replace dirtier generation with cleaner natural gas facilities," said Ashok Gupta, director of the air and energy program with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"Increased investments in energy efficiency and distributed generation, as well as the building of more efficient and cleaner plants, will only take place if we address the financial market's need for long-term contracts and remove utility disincentives with regards to efficiency and distributed generation."

"From a political and legislative perspective, the responsibility for assuring adequate electricity supply in this era of deregulation has been effectively orphaned," said Building Congress president Richard T. Anderson. "If New York City hopes to accommodate projected growth, New York's political leadership must focus on a series of critical investments, including electric cables, substations, gas, steam, water and sewer mains, telecommunications cables and towers."

The New York State power plant approval process, Article X, expired more than two years ago and no agreement has been reached on legislation that would reauthorize or replace this important streamlining mechanism.

The report urges business and government leaders to support participation in energy efficiency programs, investment in small, clean distributed generation technologies and exploration of options for renewable energy such as wind and solar power. The report also calls for more aggressive promotion of new power plant construction, as well as new transmission and distribution facilities and additional natural gas pipeline capacity.

The report's recommendation of between 6,000 and 7,000 MW in additional capacity by 2025 is based on a number of projections, including:

Total New York City employment reaching 5,032,500, a 21% increase from 2002;

Total New York City population reaching 9,352,500; a 16% increase from 2002;

At least 44 million s/f of new office development;

Substantial new university and hospital developments and expansions, as well as the initiation of major public capital projects;

The need to replace approximately 3,000 MW of aging generation capacity;

An additional 1,000 MW of capacity to assure market stability and avoid wide price swings in a deregulated market.