NEW YORK, Sept. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Con Edison and
the State University of New York at
Albany will place 17 weather-monitoring stations at company
properties to gather data that will help the company better
understand climate trends.
The "New York City Micronet" project will help Con Edison
understand how the local climate is changing. It will also provide
information on warming trends within the city. The information from
the sensors will help the company perform more detailed analysis
than previously possible.
The company's conclusions will help guide the investments it
makes to protect its energy-delivery systems from severe weather
events.
"Climate change makes smart infrastructure planning and design
essential," said Charles Viemeister,
Con Edison's project manager. "We'll use data from the Micronet to
gain additional insight into the local short-term and longer-term
impacts of climate change. We are always looking for
technologies that can help us maintain the resilient, reliable
service our customers need."
Six of the monitoring stations will be on the roofs of Con
Edison buildings and 11 will be at ground level. These stations
will monitor real-time temperature, pressure, wind speeds and
direction, precipitation and other weather variables. One device
will be on a dock off West 59th Street and monitor
temperatures in the Hudson River.
The tallest station will be 30 feet and placed at a property in
the Fresh Kills area of Staten
Island. The stations produce no noise and will blend in with
the other Con Edison equipment on each property.
The stations will send the data to the NYS Mesonet,
infrastructure at the university. Con Edison will be able to view
and download the data, which will be available to the public.
The Mesonet consists of 126 weather stations and is the largest
early-warning, weather-detection network in the nation. The Mesonet
stations are in every county in the state.
"This partnership with Con Edison is the latest example of NYS
Mesonet providing a service to make our state more resilient to
weather extremes and better inform weather risk-management
decisions," said Chris Thorncroft,
director of the NYS Mesonet, along with UAlbany's Atmospheric
Sciences Research Center and Weather and Climate Analytics Center
of Excellence. "UAlbany has access to the largest concentration of
atmospheric, climate and environmental researchers in New York. We continue to create smart business
solutions to empower industry partners statewide."
The partners plan to have the stations up by the end of the
year. Con Edison is investing $3
million in the project. That includes a $1.6 million contract with the university.
Con Edison has been proactive in fortifying its systems against
severe weather. Following Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the company
spent $1 billion over four years to
harden its electric, gas and steam infrastructure.
The company is now in the midst of a $100
million program to make additional upgrades to the overhead
electric-delivery system in Westchester
County.
Last December, the company completed a 36-month study into the
impact climate change could have on the company's systems. The
report estimated the company might need to invest between
$1.8 billion and $5.2 billion by 2050 on targeted programs to
protect its systems.
Con Edison is a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc.
[NYSE: ED], one of the nation's largest investor-owned energy
companies, with approximately $13
billion in annual revenues and $59
billion in assets. The utility delivers electricity, natural
gas and steam to 3.5 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, N.Y. For financial,
operations and customer service information, visit conEd.com.
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SOURCE Con Edison