NYPA launches energy-efficiency collaborative

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) on Thursday announced the formation of the energy-efficiency innovation collaborative (EE-INC), which seeks to improve energy efficiency in New York state buildings and spur economic growth in emerging technologies.

EE-INC is a public-private partnership of energy industry leaders that NYPA is spearheading.

The EE-INC is also announcing a request for information (RFI), through which it is seeking commercial, but not yet widely deployed, energy-efficiency technologies that it can consider for use in projects targeting the state’s public buildings, NYPA said.

The EE-INC includes NYPA, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and Empire State Development, which is New York’s primary economic-development agency.

Other members of the collaborative include the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems (SyracuseCoE); the Ashburn, Va.–based Institute for Building Technology and Safety, and the Palo Alto, Calif.–based Electric Power Research Institute.

The SyracuseCoE team includes Syracuse University, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Taitem Engineering of Ithaca, and CDH Energy Corp. of Cazenovia, NYPA said.

Additional partners include CenterState CEO, MEG Control Products of DeRuyter, CHC Construction of DeWitt, Binghamton University, and Stony Brook University, the Power Authority said.

The goal is to generate growth in the “most promising energy-saving innovations,” with a focus on those that match the energy needs of public buildings, Gil Quiniones, president and CEO of NYPA, said in the news release.

“Encouraging highly promising and expanding energy-efficiency companies will also offer increased economic-development benefits for New York state. In short, it means jobs,” Quiniones said.

NYPA has plans to finance more than $800 million in energy-efficiency projects over the next several years in support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Build Smart NY initiative.

The initiative’s goal is to improve the energy efficiency of state-government facilities by 20 percent by 2020, NYPA said. 

The Power Authority aims to incorporate energy-saving technologies into the projects that it is undertaking at schools, colleges and universities, offices, health-care facilities, and other public buildings throughout the state.

The RFI process is currently open-ended, NYPA said, but it will have periodic cut-off dates to allow for review of the submitted information.

The first cut-off is scheduled for March 25, the Power Authority added.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com