Syracuse, NY -- Central New York companies have received an energy advisory through Wednesday night in response to the heat wave, said the New York Independent System Operator, which runs the state’s wholesale market and power grid. The increased use of air conditioners and the fear of a power outage have forced the NYISO to issue a notification to Dot...
Syracuse, NY -- Central New York companies have received an energy advisory through Wednesday night in response to the heat wave, said the New York Independent System Operator, which runs the state’s wholesale market and power grid.
The increased use of air conditioners and the fear of a power outage have forced the NYISO to issue a notification to Dot Foods, Inc., Syracuse University and the Carrier Corporation. Dot Foods Inc., in Liverpool, is voluntarily enrolled in NYISO’s Special Case Resource program and would be required to reduce power usage if the program is deployed, according to the NYISO website. To reduce power, the company would use its generators for three hours, said Brian Hall, general manager at Dot Foods.
“We’re expecting to burn through some of our diesel and help out that way,” Hall said. “We’re a big power draw ourselves. So if we can shut down for two or three hours, it’s a lot of power to be distributed to avoid the brownout (an incomplete blackout) type of situation.”
As part of the program, Dot Foods is “paid in advance for agreeing to cut power usage upon request,” said the NYISO website.
More than 250 business in Central New York have been notified as of Monday night, said David Flanagan, spokesman for NYISO.
The all-time peak for power usage in National Grid’s Upstate New York service area was 6,747 megawatts set on August 2, 2006, National Grid said. At 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, 6,400 megawatts had been used.
Fernando Alfonso III can be reached at falfonso@syracuse.com or 470- 6078.