Pictures of the Future   Fall 2007

Powerful Idea in the Bronx

The Bronx’s Co-op City wants to use its power plant as a spring board to local economic renewal

On June 27, 2007—a scorching, humid day with temperatures topping 32 deg;C—parts of Manhattan and the South Bronx lost power for 45 minutes. Many New Yorkers recalled the epic blackout of four years ago, when their city and large parts of the northeast and midwest were without power for days. Consolidated Edison (Con Ed), which provides power to 3.2 million customers in New York City and surrounding areas, is fighting an uphill battle. Its infrastructure is in decline while load and demand are up. Correspondingly, Con Edison is encouraging its major customers to consider independently installing power stations to support their own demand.

Co-op City, a large residential complex located in the northeast of the Bronx, will soon become an independent customer because Siemens is providing the equipment for the re-powered power plant, which will have a capacity of 40 MW. The $65 million plant will provide some 16,000 housing units with electricity, heat, hot water, and air conditioning. And in addition to meeting the needs of all 60,000 residents, it will also provide a surplus that can be sold back to the grid.

The facility is scheduled to go online in December 2007—two months ahead of its original target. When it does, it will be more efficient, more powerful, and less polluting than its predecessor. "You put a dollar of gas into an average gas turbine, and it produces 35 cents of electricity; the other 65 cents is wasted," explains Co-op City power plant director Brian Reardon, using his favorite metaphor. "In our system, we’re getting 76 cents out of every dollar."

That’s because the steam produced by the waste heat of the combustion turbine exhaust is used to power a steam turbine that generates additional electricity. Part of that turbine’s waste heat is then used to create hot water for the entire complex.

Additional steam produced by the combustion turbine exhaust will also be used to power the plant’s "steam drivers" and "chillers," which create heat and air conditioning for the entire complex.

At maximum capacity, the plant can produce 40 MW of electricity, about twice the amount needed at Co-op City on an average day.

If it chooses, Co-op City can sell its excess electricity back to Con Edison at the prevailing market rate. Between efficiency upgrades and potential sales, RiverBay Corporation, the company that manages Co-op City, expects to save $15 million to $25 million a year. At the same time, it hopes to pay off the cost of the plant in three to five years and create a new revenue stream for future improvements.

As a bonus, the modernization allows Co-op City to use cleaner-burning fuels, meaning that despite the expansion, the complex plant will wind up emitting fewer pollutants.

Siemens is the main equipment supplier for this challenging project. The scope of supply for Siemens PG comprises two gas turbines, a steam turbine, and the control system. In addition, Siemens is supplying medium voltage controllers and turnkey manufacturing and installation of medium voltage switchgear.

One of the reasons Reardon is extremely satisfied with this project is that Siemens is able to provide the customer with a single point of contact for all commercial negotiations as well as coordinating support from different Siemens divisions.

"I am the primary contact who provides the customer with a seamless Siemens interface, allowing the customer more time to focus on more important issues" says John Sprance, Siemens’ key account manager for New York City. "Projects like this require many talented people from many Siemens divisions and contractors. In order to stay on schedule, such a project needs to be well orchestrated and it all starts with careful planning and experienced project managers."

"There’s no doubt about it, this is one of the best run projects I know," confirms Jeff Torbitt, who is the contractor project leader. Torbitt is also convinced that completing a project of this size ahead of schedule is a rare achievement.

Twice as Much Power as Needed. The idea of over-sizing the plant came up after the first calculations were completed and everyone was asking, "Where should this money come from?"

One big item on the list was Con Edison’s back-up power. "The information showed that we would have to spend a lot of money, not for electricity, but just for the assurance that we might get it if we were in trouble," recalls Reardon.

He came up with the great idea of not spending money for Con Edison but selling power instead. "Building a plant twice as large as needed and selling the surplus electricity was the break-through idea," he recalls. With this, the project became not only feasible, but also profitable. In a few years, after paying back the current debt, the plant will provide a comfortable stream of revenue for further enhancements of the whole complex, and with electricity prices on the rise, it may become profitable much sooner than originally expected.

"As established mega cities like New York continue to expand, the revitalization of their critical infrastructure helps residents and businesses function optimally. This unique infrastructure improvement project not only supports the future power needs of Co-op City residents, but also provides a mechanism by which lower income citizens can be empowered to improve their quality of life," says Randy Zwirn, president and CEO of Siemens Power Generation USA and member of the PG Group Executive Management.

RiverBay management agrees. "Years ago, when we looked at the plant and the condition it was in, we knew we had to put money in it and had to do major work," says Herb Freedman of Marion Scott Real Estate, which manages Co-op City for RiverBay. "And if you’re going to do major work, why not do it right?" he asks.
                                                                                                                 Harald Weiss