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Around the country, big users of electricity are conserving to take pressure off grid during heat
BC-NA-FIN--US-Feeding the Grid,0785<
NEW YORK (AP) _ As the mercury climbed and air conditioners devoured a near-record amount of electricity this week, the operators of New York City's power grid sent out an alert: More juice....
In New York, ConsumerPowerline sends its consultants to clients that include Macy's department store to identify subtle ways of saving power, such as adjusting the speed on ventilation fans or cooling buildings earlier in the day, before electricity use reaches its peak.
"Say one office building has 10 elevators. You can turn off two of them. People in the building might not even notice it's going on," said Reena Russell, the company's chief officer of market development.
When the New York ISO called for a power down on Tuesday afternoon, the managers of 750 Seventh Ave. switched off the dazzling electric billboards that hang over the sidewalks on three sides of the building. In 15 minutes, with the help of other adjustments, the building had reduced its power use by 250 kilowatts, enough to run 200 to 250 homes.
The building's manager, Hines Interest Limited Partnership, will split a payment with ConsumerPowerline for the power-down, which lasted until 10 p.m. But the building's director of engineering, Daniel Pugliese, said the money was not the main thing.
"We're doing this for one reason _ to help out Con Ed and help out the grid," he said.
New Yorkers, after all, remember the last time the grid failed: a 2003 blackout that darkened much of the Northeast. Fear of a repeat is one reason enrollment in demand response programs has grown.
This week's heat wave did not produce a failure like 2003, though electricity use records fell left and right.
New England used a record 27,374 megawatts between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Tuesday. New York set a record of 32,624 megawatts on Monday and would have easily exceeded that Tuesday if not for its conservation program.
Klapp said the New York system would have survived this week's heat even without the savings, but the operators did not want to cut it close.
"You always want to have that cushion in your back pocket in case a generator gives out or a transmission wire trips," he said.