Institute promotes renewable energy
America”™s appetite for electricity has a group of energy companies and scientists working to find ways to satisfy demand. That group is the Hudson Renewable Energy Institute, which recently held its first public forum to promote the use of renewable energy.
“We need affordable, clean energy and we do have alternatives,” said CEO Allan Page. He said the group”™s focus is to promote and develop renewable energy through competitive market mechanisms. “We”™d like to see the removable of regulations, creating different products so consumers can see where their power is generated. We need to see a change in the market and let customers see the value and make a purchase. We”™d like to get the Public Service Commission on board.”
The Institute was financed by the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority. Page informed the gathering, titled “Competitive Strategies for Renewable Energy’s Future: A Leadership Forum on Energy Policy,” which was held at Marist College on Mar. 14, that the group has been in the making for a while. “It”™s taken us three years from the initial idea to develop this group to this first meeting,” he said.
John Schulz, vice president of energy marketing operations for Hess Corp., led the company”™s development of its first merchant power plant, one built by a supplier to sell power on the open market. Such plants are developed without having long-term contracts to sell their power output to specific buyers. This one was a 512-megawatt facility in Mahwah, N.J. Schulz said that”™s just a fraction of all the energy consumed in the U.S. in 2010, which he estimated at 150 million megawatts.
“In New York,” he said, “$250 million a year goes into a fund managed by NYSERDA, enabling it to support renewable energy programs…it puts everyone on an even playing field.”
Dr. Dario Gill, program director of smart energy for IBM, said, “We”™re currently studying the true cost of electricity at any given point — the $178 million project system will go live this year and collect data for the next two years,” said Gill. It will enable IBM to evaluate the true cost of each kilowatt.
Richard Dewey, senior vice president for information technology for the New York Independent System Operator, which coordinates the supply of electricity throughout the state, said his organization has a established a way to forecast wind. What needs to be done, he said, is to find an affordable way to store that power.
Dr. Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, said what consumers want “is reliable and affordable service. There is a growing desire to ”˜go green”™ and shrink the carbon footprint, but it has to be affordable.”
Page praised the work of Jim Taylor, chairman of Taylor Recycling Facility LLC in Montgomery, N.Y., as “a real solution to our energy needs.”
He was referring to the gasification plant Taylor has been working on for 13 years — turning trash into gas, and using the heat from it for electricity.
“I”™m sorry Jim could not join us today,” said Page. “I have been working with him ”¦ many people believe in this project.”