CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

New York utility regulators on Thursday approved AES Corp's (AES.N) proposal to build a $22.3 million battery project capable of storing 20 megawatts of energy in Union in Broome County.

"This facility's state-of-the-art batteries will store energy and deliver it back to the grid when needed. This project - the first of its type in New York - will help improve the ability to store energy, a critical component needed to help us further strengthen and expand our use of renewable energy," New York Public Service Commission Chairman Garry Brown said in a release.

AES will build the battery project at the Westover coal-fired power plant about 175 miles (281 km) northwest of New York City.

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The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), in conjunction with the Public Service Commission (PSC), has awarded $204 million of funding to eight large-scale electric generating projects to produce and deliver renewable electricity to New York consumers.

The projects will be funded through the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), which finances the development of renewable energy resources that will help reduce harmful emissions, increase energy security, and build a clean energy economy.

The funding will support wind power initiatives at the Hardscrabble (Herkimer County), Steel Winds II (Erie County), and Marble River (Clinton County) wind projects; hydroelectric projects including upgrades to the Wappingers Falls (Dutchess County) and Taylorville (Lewis County) power projects; and biofuel projects including co-firing operations at the NRG Dunkirk (Chautauqua County) facility, landfill gas-to-electricity at the Albany Energy (Albany County) project, and a new 100% biomass Black River Generation project (Jefferson County).

Once operational, the eight projects will add more than 318 megawatts (MW) of renewable capacity and produce nearly 1,100,00 megawatt hours per year of clean renewable energy, enough clean energy to supply approximately 180,000 homes. The weighted average price of the selected projects is $21.17 per megawatt hour of production.

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Steuben County is in the process of developing a task force to address issues surrounding future drilling of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale formation.

The Steuben County Legislature’s Agriculture, Industry and Planning Committee last week laid the foundation for a task force in preparation of an expansion of the drilling industry.

The county Planning Department is assisting in establishing the scope of the task force which includes the possible effects drilling would have on communities, local economies, land use and the demand for government services, said county Planning Department representative Amy Dlugos.

Dlugos said the task force would include a steering committee and sub-committees.

“We’ve looked at other counties,” Dlugos said. “And more and more things come up.”

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While few people are questioning the enormous economic impact of developing the natural gas resources in the Marcellus Shale, the gas industry's potential impact on the environment is generating a lively debate.

That debate came to Lycoming College Tuesday during a public hearing by the state House Democratic Policy Committee.

The event, which mostly focused on environmental issues related to gas exploration, and to a lesser extent, the Chesapeake Bay, was co-chaired by state Reps. Rick Mirabito, D-Williamsport, and Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster.

Also sitting on the panel was state Rep. Mike Hanna, D-Lock Haven. Hanna said he supports a moratorium on leasing state land until the full impact of the gas industry is known.

A diverse group of speakers provided testimony regarding the Marcellus Shale during the near four-hour session.

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Despite a push from Mayor Jeffrey E. Graham and Councilwoman Roxanne M. Burns, the City Council votedMonday night to continue accepting wastewater produced by a natural gas company using the controversial hydro-fracking process.

The decision comes after the council learned late last week that Gastem Inc. is asking the city to treat another 80,000 gallons of flowback fluid. The city accepted and treated 35,000 from the Quebec-based company in January after spending little more than a year obtaining a permit from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to do so.

Ms. Burns's motion for the council to issue a formal declaration stating it will not accept the wastewater was defeated 3-2 Monday night, with councilmen Jeffrey M. Smith and Joseph M. Butler Jr. and Councilwoman Teresa R. Macaluso voting against the resolution.

Ms. Burns picked up support from the mayor, who has said that disposing of the fluid should be an issue the state and municipalities of the Southern Tier should be concerned with and not the city of Watertown.

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The wind farm proposal has created a stir in communities along the Erie and Ontario shorelines — except in the Rochester area, where it's been largely a nonissue. But the MCC event still drew some skeptics, some of whom made their way north from Steuben County.

James Hall of Cohocton, of Citizen Power Alliance, said the wind turbines produce only a fraction of their capacity. "If you don't have the wind, you shouldn't do it, especially with public monies," said Hall.

Kessel, who has seen some county legislatures express skepticism and even adopt resolutions against having the project in nearby waters, said counties that don't want a wind farm won't have to worry about it.

The wind project won't go near their county, but legislators will have to explain why the job creation also left with the wind turbines, he said.

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Horizon Wind Energy, owned by EDP Renewables (the third largest wind operator in the world), has just been awarded a contract by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) in conjunction with the Public Service Commission (PSC) to sell renewable energy credits, the clean environmental attributes of wind power, for a volume equivalent to 171 MW of capacity for ten years from its Marble River Wind Farm currently under development and located in Clinton County, New York. The contract award is from NYSERDA's fifth competitive solicitation and will be funded through the New York Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), which supports and finances the development of renewable energy resources that will help reduce harmful emissions, increase energy security, and build a clean energy economy.

"Horizon Wind Energy is pleased to be able to continue its relationship with NYSERDA with this contract award and we look forward to the opportunity to continue to provide clean renewable energy to the State of New York and its consumers," said Gabriel Alonso, Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Wind Energy.

In 2004, New York established a Renewable Portfolio Standard as a policy to increase the amount of renewable energy used by New York consumers to 25 percent by the year 2013. Last year, the New York Public Service Commission, acting on a goal set by Governor David Paterson, expanded the RPS goal to increase the proportion of renewable electricity sold in New York from 25 percent to 30 percent by 2015. To meet this goal, NYSERDA conducts competitive solicitations to award contracts for projects that deliver renewable energy to the New York wholesale power market.

Horizon Wind Energy has over 950 MW in development in New York State and through a 50/50 joint venture owns and operates the 322 MW Maple Ridge Wind Farm in Lewis County. The clean, renewable electricity produced by Maple Ridge Wind Farm flows directly into the New York state energy grid. The Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) from Maple Ridge have been contracted to NYSERDA and to the New York Power Authority (NYPA) and various third parties since January 2006.

Chemung County officials over the weekend released results of a study that shows radiation levels in soil pulled from the ground during natural gas exploration are well below Environmental Protection Agency standards.

But residents who oppose dumping that soil, called drill cuttings, into the Chemung County Landfill remain unconvinced about its safety.

The report was prepared by Theodore E. Rahon, a certified health physicist and president of the CoPhysics Corp., a Monroe, N.Y.-based company that provides radiation protection services.

The gist of the report is that the soil that the county landfill would accept from Marcellus Shale drilling poses no health threat from radiation, said County Executive Tom Santulli.

"These people are experts. They made it very clear that this material is less radioactive than the countertops in our houses and soil in our gardens," Santulli said. "My message is simple -- this stuff is not toxic. It's no more radioactive than the soil in your garden and bricks on your house. All this testing verifies that. This is way below any EPA levels.

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Local and state environmental groups joined together Friday to protest the Marcellus Shale waste that is being disposed of at the Chemung County Landfill.

The groups conducted a press conference armed with studies warning about the hazards of disposing the potentially radioactive drill cuttings and backed by regional environmentalists concerned about the shale's contaminants finding their way into local drinking water supplies.

The Residents for the Preservation of Lowman and Chemung and People for a Healthy Environment released a study by Radioactive Waste Management Associates that said "the disposal of drill cuttings from horizontal wells into the Marcellus Shale at the Chemung County Landfill are likely to result in significant risks to human health."

The two groups, in its presentation at Riverside Cemetery in the Town of Chemung, also presented a letter sent by the Residents Vice President Earl Robinson to New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo asking for a halt to dumping of Marcellus Shale waste at the local landfill.

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During the first round of stimulus projects organized by the U.S. Treasury Department last year, the Spanish energy company Iberdrola Renovables won a $294 million contract to develop clean energy. The money—accounting for 60 percent of the $502 million awarded for the first phase of clean energy spending—will be used to finance the construction of five wind farms

Obama’s stimulus plan has $60 billion reserved for the renewable energy sector (wind, bio-mass and solar), designed to double the nation’s installed green energy capacity within three years, while also meeting a target of 10 percent power generation from renewable sources by 2012, rising to 25 percent by 2025.

The financing system is by a direct Investment Tax Credit instead of the usual Production Tax Credits. That is “good news for the sector,” Iberdrola says, noting that the Investment Tax Credit assumes direct aid for 30 percent of the investment, to be paid within 60 days of contract signing.

Among Iberdrola’s principal competitors is another Spanish firm, Acciona, which is already responsible for a thermal-solar plant in Nevada, the largest facility in the world with the capacity of 64 Megawatts (MW).

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