ROME — A $20 million project to retrofit Griffiss Utility Services Corporation’s (GUSC) steam plant to burn wood chips in addition to its current natural gas and oil options should result in big savings for the utility provider and the Griffiss Business and Technology Park tenants it services, the utility says. GUSC Energy, Inc., a […]
ROME — A $20 million project to retrofit Griffiss Utility Services Corporation’s (GUSC) steam plant to burn wood chips in addition to its current natural gas and oil options should result in big savings for the utility provider and the Griffiss Business and Technology Park tenants it services, the utility says.
GUSC Energy, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of GUSC, began construction in early August and hopes to have the retrofitted plant online in the fall of 2013. Once complete, the plant will have the flexibility to use the most economical option between wood, natural gas, or oil as a fuel source, says Daniel Maneen, president and CEO of GUSC.
While the project began in earnest early this year with planning and site preparation, Maneen says it has truly been in the
works for the 12 years he has headed up GUSC. Shortly after he joined GUSC in January 2001, natural gas went from its historically low prices of about $2 or $3 a dekatherm to about $10 a dekatherm at a time when GUSC did not have any natural-gas contract with which to lock in prices, he says.
“That’s when it occurred to me that we need to have a little more control over our destiny as far as fuel goes,” Maneen says. GUSC provides energy services and steam heat to tenants in the business park through 26 miles of steam pipe and more than 100 miles of electrical distribution cable.
Maneen began the process of looking for alternative fuel sources, preferably ones that were locally sourced, and settled on wood as the ideal option. Not only is wood a sulfur-free, renewable fuel, but it’s also plentiful in the region, he says. To ensure the GUSC plant’s needs wouldn’t interfere with local business needs for wood, the project was designed around using waste wood products such as tree tops that loggers don’t use for lumber and other wood scraps. Those scraps are chipped and then ready to burn at the plant, Maneen says.
The change should give GUSC the ability to better plan its fuel costs as it can easily switch between the three fuel options depending on which one is least expensive, Maneen says. Those savings will pass directly to park tenants, who will see savings on their steam-heating costs of as much as 10 percent to 20 percent, he says. Park tenants already save about 20 percent to 30 percent over utility costs outside the park, Maneen notes.
GUSC is investing about $8 million of its own money in the project and financing the remaining $12 million through Oneida Savings Bank. The Mohawk Valley Regional Economic Development Council awarded the project a $1.5 million grant, which Maneen says GUSC will use to shorten the term of its loan.
Bette & Cring Construction Group of Albany is the lead contractor on the project. Incorporated in 2002, Griffiss Utility Services Corporation (www.gusc.net) is a nonprofit utility regulated by the New York State Public Service Commission. GUSC employs 16 people and uses the existing infrastructure at Griffiss Business and Technology Park to provide the lowest cost utilities to tenants. Current park tenants include the Air Force Research Laboratory, Defense Finance Accounting Services, Griffiss International Airport, Cathedral Corporation, Rome Free Academy, Oneida Financial Corporation, and Assured Information Services.