NY Injects $100M into Energy Efficiency Projects

by | Mar 17, 2010

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money2New York companies will be able to improve the energy efficiency of their manufacturing facilities and data centers with the addition of $100 million in funds from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

To start, three engineering firms will get $2 million apiece to investigate cost-effective measures, then educate New York businesses on what kind of funding is available to help them, according to the Albany Business Review.

The engineering firms are CHA, Energy & Resource Solutions and Willdan Energy Solutions.

The program has a special component especially geared to data centers, which are scattered throughout New York.

NYSERDA said that New York’s data centers spend up to $600 million a year on energy – an amount that may double within three to five years.

The program will be funded by a customer-usage charge. The so-called “System Benefits Charge” will be applied to customers’ electric bills.

For data centers, eligible projects include:

– improved air-flow management

– applications management strategies

– virtualization

– next-generation servers

– cooling efficiency improvements

In the industrial sector, eligible projects could include improvements that:

– upgrade compressors, motors, cooling units and lighting

– increase productivity

– increase process efficiency

– reduce waste

The minimum incentive is $10,000. NYSERDA has indicated it will pay 60 percent upon installation and the rest after the project has been verified.

NYSERDA will provide up to $5 million per facility, with the amount not to exceed half the project cost.

Last year, NYSERDA put $4 million into a similar program for manufacturers and data centers that helped slash energy consumption by 41 million kilowatt hours.

In other news, NYSERDA will award $8 million to help commercialize 19 energy storage projects, according to NanoTechWire.

The funding is being divided 19 ways, toward projects involved in advanced research and development of energy storage applications that could benefit transportation, utility Smart Grid applications and renewable energy technologies, among others.

Participants are adding $7.3 million in cost-sharing, meaning the total program is funded by $15.3 million.

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