Tree on electric wires following storm (photo by Jamestown BPU – April 16, 2023)

Gusty winds and hard rain caused trees and branches to bring down some power lines around the area Sunday night.

The City of Jamestown put out a notice that there were some power outages in the Board of Public Utilities’ area. They cautioned that some discolored water was reported, but that is expected to clear by today.

National Grid had only a couple dozen residences in their area without power in Chautauqua County this morning after news reports said around 1500 lost power last night.

Jamestown BPU webinar on proposed microgrid grant application (March 23, 2023)

The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities is pursuing a $12 million grant through the U.S. Department of Energy to create a microgrid.

BPU Transmission and Distribution Manager Kris Sellstrom said a microgrid is a power plant or generation resource that can be run disconnected from the regional transmission system, “You know, we have a power plant here, we have the Allen 6000 Gas Turbine. However, for us to run the power plant, we need to be interconnected with the transmission system. The transmission system provides both voltage support and inertia for the power plant to run.”

Sellstrom said a microgrid would help prevent against regional power outages like the one caused in January by a breaker trip by National Grid.

He said the microgrid would serve the downtown area, including government and public safety building, healthcare facilities, and some Jamestown school buildings.

The total cost of the project is $15 million with the $3 million local share being paid by the BPU. They estimate it will take five years to implement.

Sellstrom said the proposal would add a battery system to the power plant, advanced controls, and use the gas turbine to generate electricity.

BPU General Manager Dave Leathers when it comes to the State’s Climate Act, they’re hoping the Gas turbine will be fine for use until 2035 or even 2040, “So over the next 10 to 15 years, I think we’ll be looking at what’s another source of technology related to generation. And so there’s some questions here on when the gas turbine ultimately comes off line, what replaces it, if it’s a state level that’s not designed yet, and that’s work that we continue to do year in and year out.”

Leathers said he anticipates that as new generation is added and emission-free technology is developed in line with the State’s Climate Act that it will be incorporated into the microgrid.

Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Microgrid Proposal webinar slides

The BPU will take further public comments on the microgrid application at the monthly BPU Board meeting at 4:30 p.m., Monday, March 27.

Wells Enterprises

According to the WARN notice filed with the New York State Department of Labor, the ice cream and frozen dessert company cited “economic reasons” for why it’s letting go 319 employees from the Dunkirk facility by December 31.

According to the Buffalo News, the Dunkirk plant had about 750 employees as of January 2021 and planned to hire 70 new employees after receiving a $750,000 grant from National Grid to support an $87 million expansion project. Wells Enterprises now says it plans to scale back operations to five production lines beginning in 2023.

A company spokesperson told the Buffalo News that it will provide affected workers transitional benefits to assist them with finding new jobs. The plant’s employees are represented by the Teamsters Local 264 union.

The Commission decision slashed the proposed rate increase by more than one-third. National Grid had requested an increase of approximately $100.4 million in electric delivery revenues and an increase of approximately $41.8 million in natural gas delivery revenues.

The decision will keep annual electric and gas increases for National Grid customers below 2% for the next three years.

The Commission adopted a joint proposal that contains provisions to further the objectives of the Climate Act and respond to the economic conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Total electric bills for typical residential customers using 600 kilowatts per month would increase by between 2.02% and 2.2% in the first year, 1.98% and 2.12% in second year, and 2.24% and 2.4% in the third year, depending on the location of customers within the company’s service territory. Total gas bills for typical residential customers using 82 therms per month would increase by 1.99% in the first year, 3.13% in the second year, and 3.29% in the third year.

In upstate New York, National Grid provides electric service to approximately 1.6 million customers and gas service to approximately 600,000 customers.

The High winds began moving into the area Sunday morning, and by 4 p.m. the winds reached the height of their power with strong gusts blowing over trees and knocking down limbs, creating widespread outages in various pockets across Chautauqua County.

The National Weather Service in Buffalo had issued a high wind warning over the weekend and said some wind gusts were expected to reach as high as 50 to 65 miles per hour throughout the day. The NWS reported Monday that the highest recorded wind gust in the region for Sunday was in Fredonia at 69 mph at 8 p.m.

In the Jamestown area, power was knocked out in several different areas of the city and nearby Celoron and Falconer, with crews and supervisors from the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities working through the night to return power. The BPU Water Division advises that water customers may notice widespread discolored water as a result of the outages.

By 10:30 a.m. Monday, the BPU noted that while the majority of its customers are back in power, it still had areas in which there was no electricity, mainly due to major tree damage on wires.

“As trees are cut and moved out of the way, our crews can continue to replace power lines in these sporadic areas,” explained BPU communications director Rebecca Robbins. “Each crew is working one situation at a time, and we have other employees out investigating. We hope customers who remain without electricity can be assured that we are at work and will be at work until everyone is restored.”

National Grid also reported widespread outages in nearly every service area of the county, with the largest number of people affected in the town of Ellery, Harmony, and North Harmony. But there were also smaller outages reported in the Frewsburg, Kiantone, Busti, and Gerry – along with nearly every other township in the county.

Crews with National Grid are expected to continue to work on restoring power to those areas Monday morning and afternoon.

In addition to the high wind, heavy rainfall also fell at times during the day on Sunday and the showers are expected to continue Monday as crews work to restore power.

Those Affected by Power Outage Urged to be Cautious of Burst Pipes

MAYVILLE – National Grid has announced that power has now been restored for the more than 1,000 customers in the Hartfield, Dewittville, Maple Springs and Ellery areas who were without power yesterday.

With the power back on, the Chautauqua County Office of Emergency Services reminds individuals affected by the outage to please check their homes for any burst water pipes or flooded basements due to sump pump failures and the possibility of electric shock due to electrical contact with water.

If individuals experience any odors of smoke they should call 911 immediately. Any concerns with natural gas can be directed to National Fuel at 1-800-444-3130.

According the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office, National Grid was performing service on a substation in Ellery Tuesday morning which led to a failure at that substation and left 1,451 customers without power.

The company had originally expected the outage to last roughly an hour.  However, it was learned it would be much longer as the utility worked to set up a temporary substation. Officials said they expected to have power restored by roughly noon today.

Chautauqua County Emergency Services Director John Griffith mobilized a response plan to assist the residents without power.  Reverse 911 and other forms of contact were utilized to inform residents of the situation.  The American Red Cross set up shelters at the Maple Springs Fire Department and at St. Mary of Lourdes Catholic Church in Mayville to help residents who were without power, due to the cold winter conditions overnight.

Chautauqua County Emergency Services personnel will work in conjunction with local fire and emergency services as well as law-enforcement to keep residents updated and assist wherever needed.

The storms began moving into the area just before 11 p.m. Monday and continued for more than an hour, with plenty of rainfall, strong winds, and lightning hitting a widespread area.

As a result of the storm, scattered outages were reported in the region and the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Electric Division reported early Tuesday working to repair several outages that began occurring around midnight, due to high winds.

Jamestown electric outages were reported in the Palmer, Norton and Pershing areas.  Electricity is off in the areas of King, English and Tower Streets. The water pump station at English Hill was also off due to the power outage and caused some low water pressure and discolored water in that area.

Power was also out in the Village of Celoron in the vicinity of Jackson Avenue, Livingston Avenue, 5th and 7th Streets.  A few customers in the Bonita area of Fluvanna and on Elmwood in Falconer also lost power.  And West Ellicott streets of Howard, Warwick and Elmwood  were out of power.

Damage to electric lines seems to be caused by high wind conditions.

BPU crews were on the job working to restore electricity, although no time estimate was provided on when power would be restored.

Crews with National Grid were also working across the region to restore power to several affected areas, primarily in the northern half of the county.

NRG Power Plant in Dunkirk

WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) and State Sen. Cathy Young (R-Olean) are expressing their concern and disappointment with the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) after learning it plans to terminate a contract involving the repowering of the NRG Power Plant in Dunkirk.

Reed and Young both made a statement on Tuesday regarding the expected cancellation of the 10-year agreement that was made in 2014 between NRG and National Grid. Under the terms of the 2014 contract, the NRG coal-burning power plant would have be converted to a natural gas-burning power plant. The move would have allowed the plant to remain operational, preserving dozens of jobs in the north county while also maintaining property tax payments for the city of Dunkirk, the Dunkirk School District, and Chautauqua County.

However, the PSC now plans to terminate the agreement and is seeking public input on the matter.

According to the PSC, the likely termination is based on NRG’s decision to mothball the facility rather than meet the required September 2015 deadline to add natural gas-firing capabilities to the plant. The PSC also cites the decision by NRG to go with other transmission upgrades that would make the conversion of the plant in Dunkirk obsolete. Moreover, the PSC has cited an April 19, 2016 Supreme Court decision (Hughes v. Talen Energy Marketing, LLC) that could be used to nullify any state-ordered contract for the sale of electric generation capacity – including the one that was approved in 2014 between NRG and National Grid.

• READ THE PSC’S LETTER SEEKING PUBLIC COMMENT [PDF]

Because of the reasons provided, the PSC is now requesting public comment on the impending contract termination, with a deadline set for June 3, 2016. Any filings should refer to “Case 12-E-0577.”

The power plant was mothballed by NRG as it worked to fight a lawsuit challenging the conversion, as well as focus on other projects not involving the Dunkirk facility.

REED, YOUNG BLAME STATE’S ‘ANTI-NATURAL GAS AGENDA’

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

On Tuesday Congressman Reed politicized the PSC decision by putting the blame on Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other state lawmakers who’ve pushed for a an energy policy that focuses more on renewable sources, rather than those from fossil fuels.

“It’s very frustrating that this NRG plant will close due to the extreme anti-natural gas agenda in Albany,” Reed stated. “The result is jobs lost, higher electric rates, and higher property taxes – directly harming our community. Our entire region will suffer the negative consequences of a weaker economy – all because of extremists in Albany who are opposed to natural gas telling those of us in places like Dunkirk and Chautauqua County that they know better than we do.”

Senator Young also released a statement on Tuesday, which also pointed the finger at state policy for failing to keep the conversion from moving forward, instead supporting out-of-state interests.

“I condemn the state’s new found policy to destroy our power generators, and thus our jobs and tax base, by relying on importing power from Canada and dirty coal plants in neighboring states, including Pennsylvania and Ohio,” Young said. “Most notably, the PSC previously approved a huge transmission project so that National Grid now draws power into Western New York from Pennsylvania’s Homer City, one of the hugest, filthiest coal plants in the country. The substation that was completed last December has a 345,000 volt line coming from Homer City into a substation in Cattaraugus County, reducing the voltage to 115,000 volts, the same voltage that was generated by Dunkirk NRG’s power station. There also is transmission construction south of Dunkirk by Pennsylvania’s First Energy power company, which also is replacing Western New York’s power generators.

Senator Catherine Young (R-Olean)

“These out-of-state imports have replaced NRG’s power that is needed to maintain system reliability,” Young continued. “Pennsylvania’s grid power has triple the greenhouse gas emissions than New York State power sources, and Pennsylvania does not belong to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). All of those toxic pollutants spewing from these neighboring coal plants and the acid rain generated by them drifts into New York State, negatively impacting our people’s health and our environment.”

Despite the latest developments and the odds being staked against the Dunkirk plant, Sen. Young said she would still fight to keep the project moving forward.

“As long as the contract between NRG and National Grid is in place, there is hope to repower the NRG plant into a clean, efficient natural gas facility that would provide jobs and stabilize the tax base,” Young said. “Now the PSC is pushing to discontinue the contract based on the fact that NRG has failed to begin the construction, the PSC and the Independent System Operator (ISO) have instituted policies to make New York State dependent on out-of-state generators and transmission, and the fact that there is a Supreme Court decision which holds that state regulators cannot interfere with wholesale interstate power markets.

“Killing New York jobs and taking away our power generation hurts our economy, and dooms Western New York’s ability to expand manufacturing opportunities… The PSC and ISO policy of exporting our jobs and power generation is a catastrophe.” Young added. “New York State government should be held accountable for these terrible decisions.  The madness of wiping out our power generation has to end… That is why I am introducing legislation to require an analysis of imported power, a comparison of pollution from out-of-state generation to our power plants, and an analysis of its effect on our state’s power industry.”

While a contract termination by the PSC could spell major economic problems for Dunkirk and even the entire county, Young also reminded residents that there will be financial assistance during the short-term.

“Our regional taxpayers will not be hurt because we successfully fought to include the power plant mitigation fund in this year’s state budget, so the tax loss from the NRG pilot payment will be offset to the Dunkirk School District, the City of Dunkirk, and Chautauqua County,” Young said. “But we need long term solutions. If the PSC does discontinue the contract between NRG and National Grid, I will work as hard as I can to effectuate alternate solutions that will grow jobs, the economy, and the tax base.”

Congressman Reed said he will also work to find alternative solutions, should the contract termination take place.

“Our office will continue working with them and other local leaders to ensure that we can bring quality, family-sustaining jobs our region. We will continue exploring new options to obtain federal help for communities directly impacted by coal plant closures and to encourage use of our domestic energy resources such as wind, solar, natural gas and clean coal rather than depending on Middle East oil.”

NRG Power Plant in Dunkirk

ALBANY – It’s not looking good for the future of the NRG power plant in Dunkirk.

A recently released  study shows the NRG plant, along with another in Tonawanda, can be shut down without affecting energy reliability to the region’s businesses, homes and other customers.

The report by the New York Independent System Operator, done with National Grid, would appear to all but seal the closure of the Huntley Station power plant in the Town of Tonawanda. According to the report, the Huntley power plant can be replaced by transmission system upgrades. That key finding could pave the way for the plant to be shuttered by March, as NRG announced would happen.

The report also found the NRG plant in Dunkirk could be mothballed as early as January after some transmission updates, despite the state committing millions of dollars in investment to help convert the plant from a coal burning facility to one that uses natural gas.

“Based upon the expectation of the timely completion of the National Grid upgrades and that no other changes occur to the current and planned status of the New York electric system, reliability will be maintained through at least the year 2020 if Dunkirk is mothballed January 1, 2016, and Huntley is retired March 1, 2016,” wrote Richard Dewey, executive vice president of NYISO.

Huntley is considered by environmentalists to be the state’s most polluting power plant. In general, coal plants cause the most air pollution. Nationwide, a number have closed or will in the next few years.

Supporters of the two power plants say the logic behind the study is flawed because it is based on an assumption that National Grid will bring into New York additional power from coal-burning Pennsylvania plants – which they say is far more hazardous to the environment than the NRG plant in Dunkirk. They add that the state sponsored study encourages an energy policy that helps out-of-state jobs and utilities at the expense of New York energy industry workers and local tax revenues.

Senator Catherine Young (R-Olean)

“This news is extremely disappointing but there are other factors to consider in addition to reliability,” Said Senator Cathy Young (R-Olean), who’s spearheaded the effort to keep the NRG plant in Dunkirk open. “Jobs, economic impact, emissions reductions and tax revenue are required under law to be determining elements in a solution.”

Both facilities have been important drivers of tax revenues for their host municipalities, with the NRG plant generating $1.5 million in tax revenue just for Chautauqua County, with large payments also made to the city of Dunkirk and Dunkirk school district.

“My highest concern is for the well-being of the community. I am going to do everything I can to ensure the economic vitality of the region,” Young said.

A recent lawsuit against the conversion of the NRG plan has halted the transition from coal to natural gas, although Senator Young said the repowering agreement is still in place and NRG still can go ahead with the project in spite of the lawsuit.

“Our people have been very clear on the need to repower and I have been fighting for this project for three years.  I am going to continue to fight for it because the decision for repowering was made for all the right reasons,” Young said. “There also are congestion problems on the electricity grid that need to be resolved. NRG can be part of that solution.”

Critics have said Dunkirk should be allowed to close, as NRG originally proposed, because it is both uneconomical and that the money required to shift its operations from coal to natural gas can be better spent improving the state’s troubled and aging electric transmission system.