NYPA awards $1.4M to capital for energy-saving projects

The New York Power Authority has awarded $1.4 million to three energy-saving projects in the city of Albany, N.Y., including one that will connect 22 municipal buildings there to the New York Energy Manager, NYPA’s network operations center for real-time use energy monitoring.

The three projects that received the awards will save the city approximately $240,000 in annual energy costs, according to the office of New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

The awards, announced on Sept. 5, are for:
1.    $500,000 to help connect the 22 Albany municipal buildings to the power authority's network operations center, the New York Energy Manager — a centralized data platform that collects a continuous stream of detailed information from 1,200 buildings.

2.    $416,000 for the installation of electric vehicle charging stations and a city vehicle fleet optimization project for approximately 100 Albany city vehicles.

3.    $500,000 for the implementation of various energy efficiency upgrades for several municipal buildings, including City Hall and city police and fire stations.

Albany, New York state’s capital city, proposed its innovative projects as part of the governor's Five Cities race-to-the-top clean energy competition, which was announced last November and is designed to accelerate energy efficiency in the state's five largest cities outside of New York City (Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers).

NYPA will oversee energy efficiency evaluation, project design consultation, and installation. The total cost is estimated to be approximately $2 million, offset by the $1.4 million in NYPA awards. The city is expected to realize a 2.5-year payback from its energy efficiency investment.

"We're proud to support the trendsetting efforts Albany is taking to reduce energy consumption and look forward to helping to realize additional innovative energy and cost-saving projects," said NYPA CEO and President Gil C. Quiniones.

"Under the leadership of Gov. Cuomo, the power authority has demonstrated time and time again that energy efficiency projects work, not only in the state's five largest cities, but in smaller cities and towns," he said.

The Five Cities Energy Plan initiative works toward the goal of cutting energy use 20 percent by 2020 for municipal buildings and 20 percent by 2030 citywide, including private buildings. The effort is part of the governor's Reforming the Energy Vision strategy to build a cleaner, more resilient and affordable energy system, and New York's Clean Energy Standard, announced a year ago, which mandates that half of all electricity used in the state by 2030 come from renewable sources.