Thursday, April 29, 2010

Cleaner air for northwestern Queens?

From the Daily News:

Northwestern Queens may soon breathe a bit easier.

The fact that the region bears the burden of five power plants remains a sore point for locals, but many of the 1960s-built plants may be getting makeovers in the form of more modern, greener technology.

One such plant is a 600-megawatt site on the East River in Astoria owned by NRG Energy. Company officials have received most of the permits needed to begin a $1.5 billion repowering project.

Repowering entails replacing vintage steam turbines with newer, more efficient "combined-cycle" turbines, which recycle the waste heat that older units release into the atmosphere.

"The problem is our turbines are 40 years old," said Lee Davis, vice president of NRG. "We bought these older plants with the intent of repowering."

If NRG secures the necessary funding, it will replace 31 old turbines with four combined-cycle units. The new turbines will reduce emissions by more than 75% annually, Davis said. It will also increase generating capacity by more than 400 megawatts.

Of the five plants in the region, three are still using vintage turbines. In January, New York Power Authority closed the Charles Poletti Power Project - a move that locals hailed as a major victory.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

So what?

Its offset by more cars and trucks and a population leaping in double digit numbers.

...and its still FIVE powerplants.

Even if the emissions are 'reduced' its like getting a 'reduced' prision sentence from 65 to 40 years.

Anonymous said...

If you want cleaner air, stick Shulman in a plastic bubble!

Anonymous said...

Why not replace these old gasbags with nuclear power plants? They are all over Europe and the technology has advanced so rapidly, that there is now little chance of a meltdown.

Anonymous said...

Theres also many wind farms, and solar panel cells used in Germany as they lead the way in Europe for cleaner technology.
No we dont need more nuclear power plants to dump PCB rods in the East river that start fires and make the river along with other wonderful chemicals from other industrial sites here the river a real toxic soup.

Detective McNutty said...

I don't think we will see less power plants here when the Vallones are in charge. They are so connected with these power companies how can they possibly turn their backs on them. Peter is lying again , doesn't he know his father lobbies for these power companies. What is even more ironic , they said these power planets would benefit the community , yet most of the power generated is sold outside the state.