NYPA to receive $720,000 for smart-grid tests

MASSENA — The New York Power Authority has scored $720,000 in federal stimulus money to test out new smart-grid technology on transmission lines in the Massena and Chateaugay areas.

The funds will pay for half of a $1.5 million demonstration project that could help the state authority better understand how adding wind power to the electric grid affects existing transmission infrastructure, according to NYPA officials.

Gov. David A. Paterson announced Friday that NYPA's Dynamic Thermal Circuit Ratings project was one of four high-tech energy initiatives in New York state to receive stimulus cash.

NYPA plans to use advanced transmission instruments and software to more closely monitor the way transmission lines behave when wind power from Northern New York wind farms is pumped into the electric grid. By having a better understanding of the impact of wind power on the existing transmission infrastructure, NYPA officials said, they believe they could increase transmission line capacity by 5 percent to 15 percent and allow additional wind power to be added to the grid.

"What we will be doing is testing and verifying the benefits of the smart-grid technology and then, assuming it achieves the benefits we're anticipating, we could then apply it to other transmission lines," NYPA spokesman Michael A. Saltzman said. "The expectation is that the real-time info we will gain from that technology could help NYPA integrate additional amounts of transmission capacity and, potentially, additional amounts of wind power."

In NYPA's application for the stimulus funding, the Power Authority identified three 230-kilovolt transmission lines in Northern New York it plans to study — the Moses-Willis, Willis-Ryan and Moses-Adirondack lines. The application also notes the technology it plans to use will focus particularly on the conditions of these transmission lines as power is added to and flows through the grid.

According to the governor's office, the four energy projects chosen in New York received more than $88 million of the $620 million set aside in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to fund smart-grid demonstration and energy storage projects.

New York also has pledged to provide a 10 percent match or $8.8 million for any energy projects that received federal funding through this round of awards.

"The fact that our State is well represented among the states in receiving these funds is testament to New York's position as leader in the new economy," the governor said in a statement.

When combined with private investments totaling $1 billion, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said, the stimulus money will go to support more than $1.6 billion in smart-grid projects designed to improve the efficiency and resiliency of the nation's electric grid.