Cuomo announces $10 million to modernize New York’s power grid

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced $10 million is available to modernize the state’s electric grid with new “Smart Grid” technologies.

They’ll “reengineer” the grid to accommodate power-generation sources (including more clean energy), improve the grid’s performance, reduce environmental impacts and energy consumption, and lower costs to customers, the governor’s office said in a news release.

The funding available is part of Cuomo’s Energy Highway Blueprint, which called for projects to help reduce peak-demand strains on the electric system.

Those projects are also intended to reduce associated costs, integrate intermittent power sources (such as wind and solar power), strengthen the system’s security, and improve its overall reliability, according to the governor’s office.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is administering the funding through a competitive process under its Electric Power Transmission and Distribution Smart Grid program.

Projects can support research, engineering studies, product development, and demonstration projects that improve the reliability, efficiency, quality, and overall performance of the state’s electric-power delivery system.

Proposals must demonstrate “significant” statewide-public benefit and quantify all energy, environmental, and economic impacts, the governor’s office said.

Those submitting proposals must also provide cost-sharing.

Proposals for the program’s first round are due Aug. 14 and second-round proposals have a deadline of Feb. 12, 2014.

To date, NYSERDA’s Smart Grid program has provided $24 million in awards for research, product development and demonstration projects, which are matched by $31 million in private-sector funding and further leveraged by $120 million in federal funding, according to the governor’s office.

State officials designed the Energy Highway initiative to ensure New York’s energy grid is “the most advanced in the nation,” Cuomo’s office said.

The blueprint provides for as much as 3,200 megawatts in new generation and transmission capacity through such strategies as additional renewable-energy production, modernizing power plants, investing in transmission upgrades, and developing Smart Grid technologies, according to the governor’s office.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com