BoyntonStu
04-06-2009, 08:59 AM
Consortium Drops Its Plan to Build New Power Lines
Published: April 3, 2009
A consortium of private investors that sought to build high-voltage electricity transmission lines to carry power from renewable sources upstate to New York City said on Friday that it was suspending its efforts.
The consortium, New York Regional Interconnect, cited a ruling made on Tuesday by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington upholding a review process that demands that each such project be subject to a cost-benefit analysis and receive the support of 80 percent of the beneficiaries.
Regional Interconnect said it interpreted the decision as giving its main competitor, Con Edison, which purchases almost all of the electricity for New York City, the power to approve or block the project.
The consortium called the review process anticompetitive and said it would not resume attempts to build the power lines unless the regulatory environment changed.
“We were shocked because the rhetoric from Washington and Albany is all about improving our infrastructure to deliver energy coming from renewable sources to high-load areas,” said Chris Thompson, president of New York Regional Interconnect. “And this is what our project did.”
Mary O’Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said it had determined that the current regulatory process was “reasonable” and “not biased.”
Con Edison had complained that Regional Interconnect’s plan was not cost-effective. “We have to buy electricity, and we didn’t think it was the best deal for our consumers,” said Chris Olert, a Con Ed spokesman.
In New York State, as in many other regions of the country, prime locations for renewable energy sources like wind and hydropower are far from population centers. Regional Interconnect had promised to invest $2 billion in private money to build a new power grid, parallel to the existing grid, to bring additional electricity to the city.
The project had drawn, at times, support from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg because demand in New York City is high and no significant new transmission projects linking the city to upstate had been undertaken in the last two decades.
Many communities along the Upper Delaware River opposed the project, however, saying the 120-foot-tall steel towers that would be built to carry the transmission lines 190 miles from Utica to Orange County would be unsightly and hurt tourism. They were supported by state officials including George E. Pataki, who as governor in 2006 signed a law that would impede such building.
In 2007, the United States Department of Energy essentially overruled the Legislature, declaring upstate New York to be part of a multistate area where the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission can authorize the building of new transmission lines over state objections.
But resistance from Con Edison remained strong. In October the commission issued guidelines making approval of new transmission lines contingent, at least in part, on the support of 80 percent of the beneficiaries.
Regional Interconnect appealed, but the commission ruled against the consortium.
Published: April 3, 2009
A consortium of private investors that sought to build high-voltage electricity transmission lines to carry power from renewable sources upstate to New York City said on Friday that it was suspending its efforts.
The consortium, New York Regional Interconnect, cited a ruling made on Tuesday by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington upholding a review process that demands that each such project be subject to a cost-benefit analysis and receive the support of 80 percent of the beneficiaries.
Regional Interconnect said it interpreted the decision as giving its main competitor, Con Edison, which purchases almost all of the electricity for New York City, the power to approve or block the project.
The consortium called the review process anticompetitive and said it would not resume attempts to build the power lines unless the regulatory environment changed.
“We were shocked because the rhetoric from Washington and Albany is all about improving our infrastructure to deliver energy coming from renewable sources to high-load areas,” said Chris Thompson, president of New York Regional Interconnect. “And this is what our project did.”
Mary O’Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said it had determined that the current regulatory process was “reasonable” and “not biased.”
Con Edison had complained that Regional Interconnect’s plan was not cost-effective. “We have to buy electricity, and we didn’t think it was the best deal for our consumers,” said Chris Olert, a Con Ed spokesman.
In New York State, as in many other regions of the country, prime locations for renewable energy sources like wind and hydropower are far from population centers. Regional Interconnect had promised to invest $2 billion in private money to build a new power grid, parallel to the existing grid, to bring additional electricity to the city.
The project had drawn, at times, support from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg because demand in New York City is high and no significant new transmission projects linking the city to upstate had been undertaken in the last two decades.
Many communities along the Upper Delaware River opposed the project, however, saying the 120-foot-tall steel towers that would be built to carry the transmission lines 190 miles from Utica to Orange County would be unsightly and hurt tourism. They were supported by state officials including George E. Pataki, who as governor in 2006 signed a law that would impede such building.
In 2007, the United States Department of Energy essentially overruled the Legislature, declaring upstate New York to be part of a multistate area where the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission can authorize the building of new transmission lines over state objections.
But resistance from Con Edison remained strong. In October the commission issued guidelines making approval of new transmission lines contingent, at least in part, on the support of 80 percent of the beneficiaries.
Regional Interconnect appealed, but the commission ruled against the consortium.