Summer Season: Why Cogen Should Become Commonplace to Mitigate Brownouts and Blackouts, Especially in Urban Centers

As the Mercury rises during summer, so does the risk of rolling brownouts and blackouts in densely populated cities. Brownouts happen if there is a drop in electrical power or in the overall power supply. While brownouts do not cause complete power loss, they impact equipment performance and can make for a very unpleasant, stifling hot existence.

Blackouts, on the other hand, can arrest everyday life and cause shutdowns to transportation, business operations and daily life routines. Being that this is a complete loss of power for an extended period of time, it typically impacts large numbers of people throughout incredibly large areas. Blackouts usually result from major damage to electrical generation facilities and repair times can take days, if not weeks. 

The areas that are most prone to power outages are high population centers. If they don’t have enough capacity to reliably serve a population, it can lead to brownouts or rolling blackouts.  

These regions need to serve a lot of people and must have numerous generating plants, which creates multiple points of failure during times of system stress.

Since electricity has become such an integral part of everyday life, it’s commonplace not to think about it — until it becomes unavailable. During the summer months, high temperatures increase demand on a given electrical grid as residents try to remain cool by increasing their air conditioning usage. To make matters worse, climate change is making heat waves more prevalent and such events increase stresses on the energy system, amplifying the risk of more frequent and longer-lasting power outages, fueling shortages that in many cases impact critical sectors and systems, such as access to medical care, 911 emergency calls and other utilities such as fresh water.

Indeed, climate change is forcing electrical companies to incorporate alternative, backup power resources, to alleviate the stress extreme temperatures pose on power grids, but it is not happening quickly enough. According to Bloomberg, the US’s existing power infrastructure is woefully vulnerable to heat waves (which play havoc with demand).

Cogeneration solutions represent a proven and effective energy option to augment power supplies and increase energy efficiency. In 2020, energy production in the United States fell to just below 96 quadrillion British thermal units, down more than 5% from 2019’s record high, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In fact, cogeneration is one of the few options in energy alternatives that combines environmental effectiveness with economic viability and improved competitiveness. 

Why does cogeneration make sense? 

Power cogeneration, or combined heat and power (CHP), is not only a smart choice for the environment, but it’s also great for the bottom line. It produces electricity and thermal energy on-site, replacing, or supplementing electricity provided from the local utility, significantly improving energy efficiency. Incorporating commercially available technology, CHP can provide an immediate solution to pressing energy problems. Simply put, cogeneration lowers demand on the electricity delivery system and frequently reduces stress on traditional energy supplies.

Therefore, it is important that university campuses, urban centers and large-scale facilities such as hospitals need to have the right partner when incorporating a cogeneration network into an existing electrical grid. For more than 15 years, electrical installers like Hugh O’Kane Electric (HOK), led by President Hugh R O’Kane, has become a leading specializer in alternative power projects for New York City and its metro area. The company has been upgrading, expanding and installing power sources for a variety of public and private enterprises on a regular basis for over 75 years. 

This institutional expertise Hugh O’Kane is able to provide to private and public entities is paramount in order to design and implement network projects that can successfully expand their service offerings to increase their market share and gain more customers. This lineage and industry expertise has afforded Hugh O’Kane a competitive edge because it has expert knowledge of an area’s infrastructure and is able to work within the required parameters of existing networks much more easily. In doing so, Hugh O’Kane is able to take the time required to provide an alternative power infrastructure needed to ensure continuous, robust energy for municipalities, corporations and private enterprises

NYU: A Success Story for Cogeneration Power and Why Others Should Follow Suit

Nestled in the heart of Greenwich Village, New York University (NYU) graduates thousands of students every year with Visual and Performing Arts; Social Sciences; Business, and many more degrees. But in the fall of 2012, NYU taught all of Manhattan and its surrounding boroughs a lesson in engineering and why it’s important to plan ahead.

Years prior, NYU started upgrading its outdated Co-Generation (co-gen) plant system. It was not only time for its aging oil-fired-based power network—nearing the end of its life—to be replaced, but it needed to be upgraded to ensure more of the campus was covered, sufficient backup was in place and available for emergencies, and had a more robust power source in place that would comply with future standards and requirements.

At the time, no one was thinking about hurricanes or other natural disasters that if experienced, could sever power and incapacitate the campus and surrounding neighborhoods. This upgrade also aligned with New York City’s PlaNYC Climate Challenge, drafted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2007, which instructed universities and colleges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2017. 

Electrical installer Hugh O’Kane Electric (HOK), lead by President Hugh R O’Kane, built and connected numerous buildings around the NYU campus to a co-gen power network. This allowed the buildings to be independent from the ConEd grid for heat, cooling, and power.  

NYU’s upgraded co-gen project was completed in January 2011. Even though the system remains linked to the Con Edison (ConEd) grid, allowing for power flow back and forth as the campus’ loads change, it is also capable of powering the campus on its own.

The university’s system, however, passed its most significant exam in 2012. When Super Storm Sandy hit the northeast that fall, it crippled New York’s power grid, arresting the island and its neighboring boroughs with blackouts for days. NYU campus buildings, however, were some of the only “lit” structures in lower Manhattan thanks to its co-gen power network when ConEd’s grid went dark.  According to Bloomberg, Hurricane Sandy caused the biggest storm-related blackout in ConEd’s history and is a strong indictment for why more network upgrades need to materialize in major urban centers.

Cost Saving Benefits
NYU announced when the plant was complete that it was projected to save the university around $5 million to $8 million a year in energy-related costs. 

Today, nearly 40 buildings are powered from the system, also providing some with heating and others with chilled water for cooling. It not only ensures continual power in case conventional electrical grids fail, but as one of the largest private co-gen plants in the city, it also affords:

• 23% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions

• 68% reduction of EPA Criteria Air Pollutants (e.g. NOx, SOx, PM-10)

• Produces twice the electrical power of the old facility – at 13.4 megawatts – and avoids the combustion of 500,000 gallons of fuel oil annually

Resilient. Self-reliant. Cost-effective. The list goes on and on, but cogeneration is indeed a more efficient use of energy, because heat from electricity generation that would have been wasted is put to productive use. This is why it is important that large-scale facilities need to have the right partner when installing a cogeneration network. For more than 15 years, electrical installers like Hugh O’Kane Electric (HOK), lead by President Hugh R O’Kane; has become a leading specializer in alternative power projects for New York City and its metro area. The company has been upgrading, expanding and installing power sources for a variety of public and private enterprises on a regular basis for over 75 years. 

This institutional expertise Hugh O’Kane is able to provide to private and public entities is paramount in order to design and implement network projects that can successfully expand their service offerings to increase their market share and gain more customers. This lineage and industry expertise has afforded Hugh O’Kane a competitive edge because it has expert knowledge of an area’s infrastructure and is able to work within the required parameters of existing networks much more easily. In doing so, Hugh O’Kane is able to take the time required to provide an alternative power infrastructure needed to ensure continuous, robust energy for municipalities, corporations and private enterprises

Gig Centers: WiFi Connectivity Becoming a Reality One Neighborhood at a Time

Imagine living where there is no broadband connectivity. At first try, many visualize a rural location somewhere in America’s heartland. But this living scenario is playing out in our more densely populated cities like New York. Reliable and affordable high-speed internet e-Connectivity, or electronic connectivity, is fundamental for business operations, learning institutions and in 2022, basically for general, everyday life operations. 

But many residents continue to remain without reliable broadband. It's hard to believe that some of America’s most populous urban centers face this issue, but it’s true. Up to 500,000 households, according to Bloomberg, lack reliable connection in New York City. Still unfathomable? The statistics reported by the New York City government are quite arresting: more than one-third (34%) of households in the Bronx lack broadband at home, compared to 30% in Brooklyn, 26% in Queens, 22% in Staten Island, and 21%in Manhattan.

Solving the Urban Digital Divide

There is, however, a viable solution. Establishing “Gig Centers” in such neighborhoods where residents do not have adequate broadband can get them quickly connected and online. A Gig Center essentially is a free Wi-Fi location for the residents of a community. Hugh O’Kane Electric (HOK), led by President Hugh R O’Kane, is making Gig Centers a reality through its partnerships, for many New York communities. Most recently, it played an instrumental role in bringing a broadband network to life in the Bronx and playing a critical role in supporting the establishment of a Gig Center in Harlem.

Just a stone’s throw away from the Bronx Museum of Arts and Yankee Stadium, lies the Andrew Freedman Home, a city landmark that has been reimagined into an artists' hub focusing on the visual and performing arts, with a special emphasis education and training.

Working with its partner ZenFi Networks, a wireless infrastructure provider supporting mobile technologies, HOK installed a new fiber optic cable from an existing ZenFi backbone cable in the manhole system directly into the Andrew Freedman Home extending ZenFi’s fiber optic network. Now the Andrew Freedman Home can better educate and train its community.

In Harlem a Gig Center is transforming this neighborhood, essentially creating a tech hub in New York City. Again, HOK installed a new fiber optic connection from an existing ZenFi backbone telecable to tie the center into the network grid. ZenFi Networks’ network edge colocation solutions accommodate ultra-densification of mature 4G LTE networks and the ultra-low latency needs of next generation networks. Mobile network operators, CDNs, wholesale providers, and internet exchanges can utilize the densely deployed aggregation facilities throughout the New York and New Jersey metro region to aggregate traffic, collocate baseband processing, and provide caching at the network edge.

The Harlem Innovation Space for People, as the 2,800-square-foot center is called, offers coworking desks, after-school programing, events space and public access to 20 computers. It is part of the LinkNYC project—a communications network that is replacing pay phones across the five boroughs with new wireless structures called Links. Each Link provides super fast, free public Wi-Fi, phone calls, device charging, and a tablet for access to city services, maps and directions.

Both the Bronx and Harlem projects are examples of the transformational power Gig Centers can bring to neighborhoods and communities. 

So how are wireless and wireline service providers ensuring their network is able to seamlessly have the most reliable infrastructure in place? It comes down to having established, trusted partnerships with companies like Hugh O’Kane Electric’s Telecommunications division. HOK provides leading-edge design, construction, installation and maintenance of state-of-the-art telecom networks for wireline, fiber optic, and wireless networks. 

The institutional expertise Hugh O’Kane is able to provide to private and public entities is paramount in order to design and implement projects that can successfully expand their service offerings. This lineage of decades-long experience and industry expertise has afforded Hugh O’Kane a competitive edge because it has expert knowledge of an area’s infrastructure and is able to work within the required parameters of existing networks and telco providers much more easily. The company’s reputation is built upon attention to detail while meeting clients’ time frames and budgets. 

For more than 35 years, fiber optic and wireless network carriers have come to trust HOK whose expertise in specializing in telecommunication projects for New York City and its metro area are unsurpassed. The company, through its partnerships with the leading, network, wireless and telcos service providers, has been upgrading, expanding, and installing wireline and wireless networks for a variety of public and private enterprises on a regular basis.

Why The Financial Sector Requires a Resilient Uninterrupted Power Supply Network to Keep From Experiencing Cardiac Arrest

The financial sector is a critical artery for national and global institutions and governments to pump trillions of “mission-critical”transactions on a daily basis that fuel economies within and across borders. But even a small power outage interruption can cause thousands of financial dealings to freeze, resulting in the world’s monetary heartbeat to arrest. 

The financial sector requires colossal computing power to trade at lightning speed and frequency, to analyze and react to market fluctuations, and to provide customers—both private and government—with seamless access to monetary services and trades.

Financial institutions require a highly reliable uninterrupted power supply (UPS) fed through a resilient electrical network that can maintain optimal operations in the event of a blackout, breach or natural disaster that would otherwise cripple its power source.

Case in point: the US Federal Reserve in February 2020 experienced a three-hour national outage. To many, that may seem trivial but in actuality, it was an indictment of why a solid (UPS) is required and paramount for financial operations. During that three-hour downtime window, several of the Fed’s payments systems froze, which disrupted the ability for many US financial institutions to send and receive funds. The Federal Reserve Bank processes all retail, all goods and services, stocks, bonds, every transaction that goes through banks. This equates to trillions of dollars of transactions every day.

According to Bloomberg, the outages severed operations of the automated clearinghouse system known as FedACH, which handles roughly 60 million daily transactions, and the Fedwire Funds interbank transfer service, which in 2020 processed $840.5 trillion in transfers, in addition to several systems—or vessels—of the U.S. payment infrastructure. Everything from payroll services to enterprise transactions, to interbank transfers were interrupted. In other words, the nation’s financial sector suffered a heart attack. 

 Currently, there is no nationwide power supply safety net to carry the economy if a power outage occurs for a significant period of time, causing financial institutions to not be able to operate that would include call center banking, on-line banking and mobile banking in addition to global monetary transactions by governments not being able to access capital.

In the end, financial services heavily rely on a solid power infrastructure as their operation backbone. Each day, data must be generated, processed, traded, and stored. That is why financial service institutions have some of the highest standards around for the contactors they use for their critical power and trading operation projects. Because of their 24/7 operations they need the “best of the best” to provide this critical power backbone. 

 Therefore having the right contractor when installing a power supply network is critical. For more than 35 years, power supply infrastructure installers like Hugh O’Kane Electric (HOK), led by President Hugh R O’Kane, have become a leading power installation and network provider for New York City and its metro area. The company has been upgrading, expanding and installing electrical power for a variety of public and private financial enterprises on a regular basis. 

This institutional expertise Hugh O’Kane is able to provide to private entities is paramount in order to design and implement network projects that can successfully expand their service offerings to increase their market share and gain more customers. This lineage and industry expertise has afforded Hugh O’Kane a competitive edge because it has expert knowledge of an area’s infrastructure and is able to work within the required parameters of existing power supply networks much more easily. In doing so, Hugh O’Kane is able to take the time required to provide a robust power infrastructure needed to ensure continuous, robust connectivity.