Long Island

The Future of LI - energy

For Long Island ratepayers battered by the country's fourth-highest energy costs, the next 20 years promise a universe of devices and technologies to take charge of their energy fate. The goal: cut carbon emissions and get bills under control. 
Behind the scenes, meanwhile, their power company is planning a cleaner future by eyeing projects like a new cable to import clean Canadian hydropower to replace at least one or more soot-belching generating plants, while more than doubling renewable sources and offering incentives to cut use. 
The new diverse sources will be needed. 
In 20 years, the <a href="/topics/Long_Island_Power_Authority">Long Island Power Authority</a> projects, peak consumption on the Island will be one-third higher, or by about 3,000 megawatts - about half of what <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> and <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> use on a hot summer day now. 
And the prospect of new fleets of plug-in electric cars in coming decades, experts say, could push that demand curve even higher. 
&nbsp; 
LI's unusual situation 
But Long <a href="/topics/New_York_Islanders">Islanders</a> face a unique challenge that will continue to drive energy costs up for many: Because LIPA is burdened with $7 billion in debt, much of it tied to the closing of the <a href="/topics/Shoreham%2C_NY">Shoreham</a> nuclear power plant, customers who continue to get most of their electricity from the utility may see little rate relief for decades - and could foot the bill for those who convert to greener alternatives. 
It's happening already. Customers who install solar panels and cut their bills do so with hefty rebates from LIPA paid for by the remaining 1.1 million customers. 
Conditions are ripe for an energy revolution by a new and slowly growing class of energy user on Long Island: Those who produce and store their own energy, and cut their bills and carbon footprints to a minimum. 
Solar power and geothermal heating and cooling systems, while still a tiny part of Long Island energy landscape, are expected to accelerate as technology improves and continues its price slide, and as new devices to store abundant sun energy hit the market. 
"Twenty years from now, most if not all buildings on Long Island - homes and offices - will be generating their own power," said Gordian Raacke, executive director of Renewable Energy Long Island, a LIPA-funded clean-energy promoter. 
Two state-of-the-art homes on the East End illustrate the allure of the self-sufficient energy model. 
The $3.5-million Lauto home in <a href="/topics/Montauk%2C_NY">Montauk</a> uses heating and cooling systems that draw energy from deep within the earth, solar panels to produce more energy, and a tightly controlled environment of switches and monitors to put the family - and the house itself - squarely in charge of its energy destiny. 
In <a href="/topics/Southampton%2C_NY">Southampton</a>, the overhauled home of the Dubin family is essentially a net-zero-energy reality, wrapped so tightly that little heat or cool air escapes, lighting with modern LED lights for pennies, and water is heated via geothermal and sun-based systems. A computer monitor that sits on a kitchen counter gives a minute-by-minute report of home energy production - and savings. 
&nbsp; 
(Solar) window into future 
For the <a href="/topics/Long_Island_Power_Authority">Long Island Power Authority</a>, which steers the region's energy fate, the need to explore new energy sources is urgent. Contracts for capacity from the Island's largest power plants, owned by <a href="/topics/National_Grid">National Grid</a>, expire in 2013. But LIPA is expected to rely on them for the foreseeable future. 
"We have a 20th century grid in a 21st century world," said outgoing LIPA chief Kevin Law. So now is the time to start planning for cleaner power. 
Accordingly, LIPA in coming weeks will put out bids for enough new power to supply up to 1,000 megawatts - 20 percent of the amount needed to meet summer-peak demand. Planners are keeping an eye on new regulations. 
"We can't ignore the impact of climate legislation," said Paul DeCotis, a former deputy secretary for energy of New York State and LIPA's vice president of power markets. 
The utility power shift will be largely invisible to customers. Not so changes at home, where, pundits say, control over usage, energy sources and costs will move from the backyard meter to the living room. Omar Siddiqui, program manager for energy utilization for the Electro Power Research Institute in <a href="/topics/Palo_Alto">Palo Alto</a>, <a href="/topics/California">Calif</a>., views a future in which a desktop "energy management control system" makes all home energy decisions. 
Windows - some solar-power collectors - would dim automatically to maximize light and restrict or increase heat. Furnaces and central air conditioners would be replaced by highly efficient heat pumps, which would send refrigerant through tiny pipes to individual rooms to control temperature. Homes equipped with $250 smart meters and fed by a utility's smart electric grid would give users and utilities more information and more ways to change usage patterns to cut costs, including off-peak pricing. Meter readers would be a thing of the past. 
The question is whether LIPA can figure out a revenue model in this future scenario, said Raacke of Renewable Energy Long Island. 
"We have perfect conditions: high electric rates and a great amount of sunshine," Raacke said. "The trick for LIPA and other utilities is to figure out a way to generate revenue from that." 
Raacke envisions a day when the utility is more of a power manager of largely scattered energy resources, and less of a power producer. 
The smart grid LIPA is planning could take on that role, Law said. 
&nbsp; 
Overhauling power plants 
Long Island's iconic power plants won't be a thing of the past, but their roles will be different. The regional energy plan now under consideration forecasts that at least two of the big five steam-generating plants - <a href="/topics/Far_Rockaway%2C_NY">Far Rockaway</a> and <a href="/topics/Glenwood_Landing%2C_NY">Glenwood Landing</a> - will be retired. 
Ideally, LIPA wants the plants' owner to upgrade the remaining three - the big <a href="/topics/Northport%2C_NY">Northport</a> power station, <a href="/topics/Port_Jefferson%2C_NY">Port Jefferson</a>, and E.F. Barrett in <a href="/topics/Island_Park%2C_NY">Island Park</a>. 
But the bill of around $1 billion per plant will come back to LIPA ratepayers - same, too, for the smart grid. Given that some or all of the plants could be sold by owner <a href="/topics/National_Grid">National Grid</a>, upgrade plans remain sketchy. 
Bob Catell, co-chairman of the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center at <a href="/topics/Stony_Brook_University">Stony Brook University</a>, predicted that even in 20 years, as much as half of Long Island's power will come from local power plants - though they will probably be upgraded. 
He pointed to a coming generation of plug-in electric cars as a big reason reliance on the grid could actually be greater than it is now. And while technology is improving, he noted, "You can't get that much power from renewables." 
One thing is clear: While oil is an option to fuel the plants, its use has decreased markedly. In the last year alone, the plants have run almost exclusively on natural gas. That presents new challenges. 
Energy expert Matthew Cordaro, dean of <a href="/topics/Dowling_College">Dowling College</a>'s business school, said there's already a need for more gas here - to power overhauled plants and displace heating systems using oil. "I think more than one new gas line is needed," Cordaro said. 
The rejection of Broadwater, the proposed liquefied-natural-gas barge that would have sat in Long Island Sound, only delayed the call for a major gas pipeline to supplement the three that now feed Long Island. 
But not all current plants may need the gas they use. Under one scenario, the <a href="/topics/Port_Jefferson%2C_NY">Port Jefferson</a> power station would be converted to a receiving station for a Canadian hydropower cable snaking its way here in the next decade - delivering 600 megawatts, Law said - nearly double that of the existing power plant. 
&nbsp; 
Expanding marketplace 
LIPA's plan for less costly hydropower isn't the only one envisioned. "I see room for many players as we look at the decarbonization of the marketplace," said Don Jessome, chief executive of Transmission Developers Inc. By 2015, the <a href="/topics/Ontario">Ontario</a> firm plans to build a 355-mile, 2,000-megawatt line called the Champlain Hudson Power Express - though most of its capacity will feed New York City. 
Long Island already gets a growing percentage of its power from faraway sources. 
The Neptune Cable, which originates in <a href="/topics/New_Jersey%2C_NY">New Jersey</a> and has operated since 2007, delivers around 600 megawatts. The Cross-Sound cable under the Long Island Sound from <a href="/topics/Connecticut">Connecticut</a> adds another 300 megawatts. 
The challenge for LIPA is to keep pace with growing demand, satisfy public policy goals that stress cleaner power, and do it all while staving off a revolution by rate-stressed customers. 
If LIPA misses the boat, a new concept called micro-grids could step up. 
They're local collectives of electric customers that use the big utility as one of many power sources, with communal decisions about conservation, renewables and pricing. 
An example: <a href="/topics/Princeton_University">Princeton University</a> can hop off the grid and access a plant of its own when peak pricing spikes in the summer. John Kelly, deputy director of the Galvin Electricity Initiative, a backer of micro-grids, said the concept could spur small, community decisions to go all-solar, mandate conservation, or reach out to distant energy suppliers. 
Said Kelly, "The old utility model and structures are going to look very bad in the future."

Business

LIMAIN06

Long Island's energy challenge: Cleaner options, rein in rates

liCROSSROADSjcw

Here are the powerhouses of <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>. Nearly every volt of power that comes into our homes comes from one of these six plants. But they are antiques. Some of them will need to be retrofitted for this century and the others will be retired. 
<h3>Northport Power Station</h3> 
Opened: 1967-77 Capacity: 1,540 megawatts Fuel types: Oil and natural gas Plan: Fix it. Upgrade to modern, efficient plant. Needs to be made more efficient, etc. Cost: $1.6 billion to $1.9 billion. 
<h3>Port Jefferson Power Station</h3> 
Opened: 1948-58 (several upgrades) Capacity: 362 megawatts Fuel types: Oil and natural Plan: Fix it. Upgrade to modern, efficient plant. Cost: $614 million to $685 million Plan B: Electric cable receiving/converter station 
<h3>E.F. Barrett Power Station -- Island Park</h3> 
Opened: 1956 Capacity: 380 megawatts Fuel types: Oil and natural gas Plan: Fix it. Upgrade to modern, efficient plant. Cost: $940 million 
<h3>Glenwood Generating Station -- Glenwood Landing</h3> 
Opened: 1930-1954 Capacity: 210 megawatts. Used primarily to meet demand during consumption spikes. Plan: Close it? Possible retirement 
<h3>Far Rockaway</h3> 
Opened: 1953 Fuel: Natural gas Capacity: 108 megawatts Plan: Close it? Possible retirement 
<h3>Caithness Long Island Energy Center</h3> 
Opened: 2009 Capacity: Combined cycle plant produces 285 megawatts Fuel types: natural gas, oil Plan: Expand it. Caithness has proposed building a second on the property, doubling its capacity. Cost: $1.59 billion

Suffolk

LIPLAN06

Long Island's big six powerhouses

By 2040, some experts predict, solar panels will be as common on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> as air conditioners and satellite dishes.
While a few large projects are on the horizon, the region's solar future is expected to happen largely building-by-building, as rooftop solar arrays pare utility bills for the homes and business below.
"Solar is make-it-where-you-need-it," said R. Sail Van Nostrand, owner of a <a href="/topics/Northport%2C_NY">Northport</a> solar energy firm and chairman of the Long Island Solar Energy Industries Association. "Don't burden the power lines, put the generator right where the consumption is."
Anticipated gains in efficiency and affordability will drive the expansion, as will government subsidies that help defray installation costs, according to local energy executives, researchers and advocates.
The uptick will relieve pressure on the grid at peak demand times and help reduce dependency on fossil fuels. But even in 30 years, solar power will still probably make up a small fraction of the local energy supply.
 
Not many large ones
Sprawling utility-scale systems like the 200-acre solar farm planned at <a href="/topics/Brookhaven%2C_NY">Brookhaven</a> National Laboratory will likely remain the local exception. Low winter sunlight and the high cost of land make such projects less practical here than in the Southwestern United States, said Vasilis Fthenakis, head of the lab's National Photovoltaic Environmental Research Center.
"We're going to have some more large ones, but for the most part we expect the rooftops to increase," Fthenakis said. 
Less familiar solar technologies could gain a foothold in the coming decades. Rooftop solar thermal systems could heat water for homes and swimming pools. Solar films embedded in building materials used for facades and skylights could generate energy for commercial and public structures.
"I think solar energy will be an integral part of every building," said Gordian Raacke of the advocacy group Renewable Energy Long Island.
Until the cost of solar technology goes down, Raacke and others said growth will remain dependent on subsidies that help people offset the high cost of buying and installing solar panels. A residential system can run as much as $70,000; LIPA offers a rebate that now covers 25 percent to 30 percent of that cost.
"Our residential applications are going gangbusters," said Kevin Law, chief executive of the <a href="/topics/Long_Island_Power_Authority">Long Island Power Authority</a>, whose solar rebate program played a large part in creating the local market. Installations at businesses, schools, firehouses and hospitals are also on the rise, thanks in part to federal stimulus funds.
While LIPA has increased its overall solar spending, Law said the agency is scaling back the rebate price per kilowatt to spread the money across more people and give more people access to the popular program.
 
Incentives questioned
Matthew Cordaro, a former utility executive and dean of the business school at <a href="/topics/Dowling_College">Dowling College</a>, questions the solar industry's reliance on such incentives. He said they are unfair to ratepayers and taxpayers who ultimately foot the bill for solar setups, which he said remained costly and inefficient. 
A number of experts said a pullout of government support could cause solar expansion to stall, as it did after the 1970s energy crisis.
"I'm hoping we learn from the past and keep the eye on the long-term goal: to get ourselves off foreign oil and make ourselves more sustainable," said Bruce Humenik, senior vice president of Applied Energy Group, an energy consulting firm in <a href="/topics/Hauppauge%2C_NY">Hauppauge</a>. "But I'm nervous. Our memories are short."

LISOLA06

LI's solar future may be building by building

A 20-mile-long column of turbines marches across the horizon, from the Rockaways to Jones Beach. Windmills rise above farms and businesses throughout the East End. And across Long Island, rotors of all shapes and sizes spin over school yards and factories, landfills and ballfields, marinas and residential rooftops.
By 2040, renewable-energy experts say, businesses, municipalities, school districts and homeowners will have tapped into an energy resource sweeping across the Island: wind. 
To be sure, the offshore wind project - by the <a href="/topics/Long_Island_Power_Authority">Long Island Power Authority</a>, Con Edison and <a href="/topics/New_York_Power_Authority">New York Power Authority</a> - is far from a fait accompli. Like its failed predecessor at Jones Beach several years ago, it could sputter out before it ever hits the water. Or, if critics' arguments prove true, it could stall after Phase One: a plan to erect 100 turbines 13 miles off the coast that could produce 300 megawatts of power.
 
Expensive and intermittent
Opponents argue that wind energy is expensive and intermittent, but industry experts say the potential is too great to ignore. Advancements in technology are expected to make wind power cheaper, more consistent and less obtrusive.
By 2040, said Kevin Law, LIPA's president and chief executive, wind will supply about 10 percent of Long Island's power.
Still, wind technology is not the Island's silver bullet. It performs worst during the high-demand summer months. It generates energy only when the wind blows. And, while acceptance of windmills is growing, people remain concerned about how they look and sound.
"There's not one savior," said <a href="/topics/Huntington%2C_NY">Huntington</a>'s chief sustainability officer, Terese Kinsley, who would like to see small turbines powering concession stands on town beaches.
 
Energy storage is key
Improvements in energy storage, however, could make wind power more reliable, allowing energy captured during windy days to be saved for calm ones.
And as researchers develop new, smaller turbine models - vertical eggbeaters, pinwheels, shapes still unimagined - homeowners may be more inclined to mount them in the backyard.
Today, prompted by incentives including a LIPA rebate and a federal tax deduction, East End businesses are leading the way, with turbines aimed at cutting their electricity bills. 
By 2040, "just about every farm is probably going to have a wind turbine up," said Jeff Lang, who's on <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> County's wind energy subcommittee and is former wind technology director for <a href="/topics/Mattituck%2C_NY">Mattituck</a>-based Eastern Energy Systems. 
Towns, school districts and groups of homeowners, pooling their resources, could own industrial-size turbines, like the 156-foot structure spinning over Half Hollow Nursery in <a href="/topics/Laurel%2C_NY">Laurel</a>.
At 89 years old, Lloyd Rasweiler, owner of the nursery and Long Island's biggest turbine, says he wasn't seeking to be a trendsetter. The windmill, launched in April and expected to power his entire operation year round, just made business sense, he said.
"I've been around a long time and I've seen a lot of changes," said Rasweiler, who grew up on a vegetable farm in <a href="/topics/Malverne%2C_NY">Malverne</a>. "Farming went from horse and plow to tractors. The wind is here. Why not use it?"

LIWIND06

LI's wind energy potential is too great to ignore

Newsday staff asked Long Islanders about the future of energy on Long Island. 
<h3>Clifton Smith, 68, of Elmont</h3> 
A truck driver, Smith is concerned about the high cost of power. these days. He tries to save energy at home by unplugging appliances and turning off lights. Smith thinks the future of energy lies in upping generation from renewable sources. He said switching from oil to natural gas will only delay dependence on fossil fuels. 
"I think to go to natural gas would be the same difference [as relying on oil]. They still have to drill for it. And coal is very dangerous... Wind power is good. I would like to see more of it." 
<h3>Joan Mahon, 46, Syosset</h3> 
Mahon is a senior instructor with Everblue Training Institute and teaches energy and environmental design LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) classes at Hofstra University’s school of continuing eduation. She said Long Islanders will ramp up energy efficiency in the coming decades, and anticipates growth of building-by-building solar projects and wind turbines on land. 
"Some projects I think point to the future, like the installation of the wind turbines at wineries on the North Fork. Those I think are very appropriate, and once they gain success it will be easier for people to understand the value and embrace it... The other thing that will play out in a big way is the individual homeowner who wants to address the energy efficiency of their existing home — the best way to reduce energy demand is to conserve." 
<h3>Itai Ben, 26, of North Bellport</h3> 
A salesman originally from Israel, Ben said that alternative energy is too costly right now. But he but thinks that eventually technology will ramp up and provide new ways to power homes and businesses. 
"In Israel, they have charging stations for electric cars, but the problem is that it’s expensive... If I had extra money, I would put solar panels on my house to save money [on energy bills]. I think that in the future, scientists will find a solution. Technology will develop." 
<h3>Julie Rand, 43, of Glen Cove</h3> 
Rand is a stay-at-home mother of two who opts for the smaller, fuel-efficient car instead of the family mini-van when she isn’t driving the kids around. She has considered installing solar panels on her roof, or maybe a solar thermal system to heat the pool. 
"I think we’ll eventually run out of natural gas. It makes sense to try and use less energy. We should try and get away from the pollution. I grew up in St. Louis, and we had marble floors that helped it stay cool in the summer. Now when I leave the house I shut everything off, and close the blinds." 
<h3>Barbara Shinn, 47, of Mattituck</h3> 
Shinn, co-owner of Shinn Estates Vineyard, says the winery’s use of solar power and a newly installed wind turbine not only cut energy use and the farm’s carbon footprint but also spur awareness of renewables, which she believes are crucial to the future energy mix. 
"Being on Long Island, we’re one of the sunniest and windiest places in New York. The opportunities to install more solar and wind energy are huge. My vision is to see high-tension wires [which run across an outdated tower system on the North Fork] taken down, and replaced with wind turbines. Everywhere there’s a tower, there’s a turbine instead." 
<h3>Matthew Mathosian, 29</h3> 
Mathosian, a project manager for EmPower Solar, an Island Park firm behind some of the largest solar-energy projects here, including a recently completed 100 kilowatt project at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock in Manhasset. 
"The renewable-energy industry has got to sustain itself. Equipment prices are coming down, and we’re getting additional incentives as far as tax credits. We’ll accelerate our business in the sector. Today, I’m in Long Beach. The only thing I see all day are oil tankers. What’s the difference if there are wind turbines in the water? Of course we’d like to see the power plants all shut down, if what the government is striving for is a totally sustainable renewable economy." 
<h3>Leighton Delgado, 56</h3> 
Delgado, a technical representative at the Matouwac Research Center for the Montauk Indian Nation, says Native Americans are in a unique position to help advance in the advancement of renewable energy. 
"We were recently assigned by Montauk Nation Chief Robert P. Pharaoh to explore possibilities for renewable energy initiatives that could be implemented on Eastern Long Island, the Montauk tribe’s original territory. Chief Pharaoh’s vision is to protect and preserve Eastern Long Island through natural and renewable practices that cause no harm to the environment. Wind resources available on Eastern Long Island, especially the areas surrounding Montauk Point, are consistent with utility-scale energy production." 
<h3>Michael White, 57</h3> 
White, an executive director of the Long Island Regional Planning Council, said affordability of the Island’s energy supply is a vital part of the equation in planning the energy future. His answer: plan for more natural gas to fire baseload plants along with plans for more renewables and transmission improvements to import more power. 
"Don’t just look at green energy. Lack of affordable energy is one of the huge issues that discourages business on Long Island ... We have a clear difficiency with respect to availability of natural gas. However you frame it, there’s going to be a resource battle."

TXTVOIC06

Voices of Long Island: Energy

The Future of Long Island: Energy

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