LIPA Applies for over $17 Million in Stimulus Funding For Renewable Energy
Projects
Uniondale, NY –The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) announced that it has
applied for over $17 million in additional federal stimulus funds with the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) for three separate renewable energy projects.
Each of the three initiatives are intended to gain a better understanding on
how LIPA can maximize the energy generated from solar and wind power. If
approved, the DOE could fund up to 50% of the projects’ total costs.
The first two applications call for projects that will allow LIPA to study
how to produce greater power from its solar arrays, achieve better integration
from the arrays onto the LIPA grid through the interconnection, and more
predictably forecast the amount of energy that can be generated from the sun.
The two studies will further advance LIPA’s 50 megawatt (MW) solar generation
project, the largest solar initiative in the state, which was announced by
Governor Paterson and LIPA President and CEO Kevin S. Law last year. The solar
generating facilities would provide enough power to sustain more than 6,500
households and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20,000 tons. This project will
also further stimulate the solar marketplace throughout the state, fostering the
creation of more clean energy jobs. The 50MW of solar energy builds on the
success of LIPA’s Solar Pioneer program, which boasts more than 1,900
participants and has resulted in more than $47 million in LIPA rebates.
LIPA has filed a third application as part of a consortium with Stony Brook
University, Alliant Techsystems (ATK), Clipper Wind Power, Consolidated Edison
(Con Ed), and IBM to study the future development of wind power. The
consortium’s main focus will be concentrating on how to maximize energy from
wind turbines and their infrastructure such as wind blades and gear boxes.
Governor David A. Paterson said, “These projects will help to make New York
the global leader in the clean energy economy. It is projects like these that
will make it possible for New York to meet 45 percent of its electricity needs
through renewable energy and efficiency by 2015, creating 50,000 jobs. I urge
the Department of Energy to carefully consider these excellent proposals.”
“We need to reduce our dependence from fossil fuels” said LIPA President and
CEO Kevin S. Law. “These applications are consistent with Governor Paterson’s
45x15 initiatives and reinforce my commitment to secure key federal dollars to
expand our renewable portfolio, while stimulating the local economy with the
creation of new clean energy jobs.”
The results of these projects will continue to improve renewable energy to
make it more efficient, and less expensive to achieve.
Descriptions for each project submitted for federal stimulus funding are as
follows:
- Modeling and Validation of a 37 MW PV Array- Requested $4,500,000 to
pursue a joint venture between LIPA, Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL)
and British Petroleum Solar (BP Solar) with the overall objective of making
use of the 37 MW photovoltaic (PV) array to be constructed at Brookhaven
National Laboratory (BNL) to further develop the understanding of the
effects of various levels of penetration of solar electricity on the
reliability and stability of electric power distribution systems.
- Advanced Modeling and Verification for High Penetration PV- Requested
$1,019,000 for this proposal that seeks to enhance PV performance and grid
modeling to fully integrate with existing software used for distribution
circuit design and analysis. This technology will allow utilities to better
understand the full behavior and technical impacts of high-penetration PV
and lead to new distribution design tools that will allow utilities to
better plan and manage their distribution systems under high penetration PV
scenarios. LIPA will be working directly with Clean Power Research (CPR) and
the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to test and validate the
tools and underlying analytical models.
- Wind Energy Consortia between Institutions of Higher Learning &
Industry- Requested $11,887,584 through a group comprised of LIPA, Stony
Brook University, Alliant Techsystems (ATK), Clipper Wind Power,
Consolidated Edison (Con Ed), and IBM will study wind turbine development,
performance testing, and operations. The study will focus on addressing
technology challenges interposed between the current commercial
state-of-the-art in wind turbines and the objective of achieving 20% wind
energy in the United States by 2030.
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