May 6, 2001, 8:30AM

Plan for temporary plants in city to avoid outages gets mobbed by studio By DAVID IVANOVICH Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle

NEW YORK -- If the lights go out in the Big Apple this summer, some New York pol is almost sure to finger The Sopranos.

Scurrying to head off an electricity crisis a la California, the New York Power Authority hurriedly is plunking down small, "temporary" power plants in vacant lots around the city.

The agency is rushing to have 11 new electric generators up and humming before June, and head off a potentially disastrous power crunch.

But the Power Authority is taking heat from Silvercup Studios, home of The Sopranos, HBO's hit drama about a modern mob family.

Silvercup had plans to build a film studio in Queens. When studio execs heard a power plant was going in next door, their reaction was a quick: Fuggetaboudit!

Silvercup filed suit to block the project. So now, lawyers are wrangling over just how badly the noise from a power plant would affect the sound quality of a Denny's commercial.

It is this kind of confrontation, pitting local concerns against the region's power needs, that has stymied plant construction and pushed New York's electric grid to what the state's independent system operator terms "the thin edge."

No power plant has been built in the state since 1994, and none in New York City since 1967. Yet electricity demand continues to climb.

New York, like other newly deregulated power markets, watched with alarm this winter as the lights flickered out across California.

New York City and Long Island are both vulnerable, power experts warn. Transmission line capacity limits the amount of juice that can be sent from elsewhere.

New Yorkers remember well the city's past power fiascoes.

In November 1965, the power grid for much of the Northeast collapsed. The famous New York skyline dissolved into gloom. The sheer novelty of the event sparked spontaneous street parties and a romantic -- albeit unsubstantiated -- legend about a baby boomlet.

By July 1977, the mood was very different. When lightning knocked out four of the five transmission systems bringing power into the city, New York again went black.

But this time, the city erupted into violence. Thousands were arrested as riots, looting and arson ravaged New York.

New Yorkers were reminded of those days two years ago, when a more isolated problem knocked out power in upper Manhattan for two sweltering July days.

State officials responded to the 1977 debacle by insisting no less than 80 percent of the city's power needs during peak demand times be generated within the city.

During the 1990s, the city's population grew by more than 700,000 to top 8 million. The economy roared along at an unprecedented pace, and electricity demand was spurred by a computer-driven economy.

Statewide, electricity demand grew by 2,700 megawatts between 1995 and 2000, while generating capacity increased by 1,060 megawatts, according to the New York Independent System Operator.

Yet, New York remained loath to build new power plants. Currently 21 different projects are on the drawing boards, with only one expected to come on line by the end of next year.

In December 1999, the Empire State deregulated its wholesale electric power business.

The following year, New York City entered the summer months substantially short of its 80 percent, in-city capacity rule.

Power experts now say the city eked by, thanks to an unusually mild summer.

But wholesale electricity prices jumped during the hottest months. Consolidated Edison, which serves more than 3 million customers in the area, was, for the first time, able to pass along those higher costs to consumers.

Suddenly, New Yorkers were howling about a 20 percent jump in their electric bills.

Soon, state power regulators were being hauled before legislative panels to discuss the situation. And by August, state officials had gotten religion.

The Power Authority launched a $500 million project to install 44 megawatt, "micro" generators on six different sites in New York City and Long Island. Five of the sites would house two plants apiece.

Together, the new power plants would produce enough electricity to light about 400,000 homes.

These power plants were supplied by Houston-based GE Aero Energy Products. The equipment was manufactured at Jacintoport and then transported, mostly by barge, up to New York.

State officials sold the plan as a stop-gap measure, "to see us through the next few summers," said Joseph Leary, a senior intergovernmental affairs specialist for the Power Authority.

Without the plants, the city would begin the summer about 397 megawatts or about 5 percent short of its 80 percent in-city minimum.

Calling the new plants "overdraft protection," Charles Durkin, chairman of the Northeast Power Coordinating Council, assured New Yorkers last week that, with the new plants, the chance of a blackout this summer is 1 in 5,000.

Of course, finding six sites to build new power plants in a densely populated metropolis like New York was no easy task.

State regulations require an extensive review process before the construction of any facility generating more than 80 megawatts of power.

To get around that time-consuming requirement, the Power Authority promised that the two 44-megawatt turbines at most sites would, together, generate no more than 79.9 megawatts of power.

Critics scoffed at the Power Authority's "new math" -- 44 + 44 = 79.9 -- and accused state officials of trying to circumvent the law.

But John Grzan, the Power Authority's director of power system equipment, argued: "If you want to get (the plants) built and you have six months, that's what you do."

The Power Authority promised to spread the plants out among the city's five boroughs, although none were located in Manhattan.

One of the chosen sites was a 3-acre parcel in a struggling area of Queens on the banks of the East River.

The property was zoned light industrial. A private power company would not have been permitted to build a power plant there, but the state could.

The site is situated near a much larger power plant. But the parcel also boasts a spectacular view of the Manhattan skyline and is situated in an area community leaders had hoped could be part of a major riverfront development.

Two smokestacks at the site will tower 150 feet in the air. That's taller than what's normally required, but the stacks had to be high enough so as not to cause potentially dangerous fog on the roadway of the nearby Queensboro Bridge.

Enter Silvercup, whose nearby bread factory-turned-TV/film studio serves as the production facility for TV shows such as the The Sopranos and Sex and the City, as well as movies such as When Harry Met Sally, Big Daddy and, naturally enough, The Godfather Part III.

Silvercup already had purchased the land next door to the new power plant, with plans to rehabilitate a century-old structure known as the Terra Cotta building.

Silvercup President Stuart Match Suna also had visions of building a new studio on the property, as well as a skyscraper featuring commercial and residential units.

But the Power Authority, Silvercup officials argue, threw a wrecking ball into those plans.

"The noise and vibration that would emanate from the power plants would create an environment that is not conducive to film and television production," rendering studio operation "acoustically unfeasible," the studio contended in its lawsuit.

Even if the sound were not a problem, actors and other show business types would never agree to work next to a power plant, for fear of electromagnetism or some other health risk, noted David Von Spreckelsen, Silvercup's director of real estate development.

"It's a weird group of people in this movie/TV game," Spreckelsen said.

Silvercup proposed numerous other sites in Queens. The Power Authority refused to relocate.

In its suit, Silvercup argued the Power Authority had played fast and loose with the legal niceties.

Local residents and community leaders joined the fight. Pamfil Dornan, who lives a block and a half away from the would-be power plant, figures the value of his property has been cut in half.

Eventually the issue would become highly partisan, with Republicans such as New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Gov. George Pataki supporting the plan, with prominent Democrats such as Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., objecting.

Among the critics was actor James Gandolfini, who plays Tony Soprano on the TV show.

Queens County Supreme Court Justice Joseph Golia wasn't too sympathetic to Silvercup's complaints about the impact of the power plant on its plans.

But Golia ruled that the Power Authority had indeed taken short cuts, failing to adequately consider the impact on the local community, as well as landmarks such as the Terra Cotta Building and possible archaeological resources on the property.

Golia ordered the Power Authority to halt construction and told the agency to conduct an environmental impact study.

The state appealed, and the Power Authority was granted permission to resume work until a higher court could hear the case.

Suna says he would be happy to settle the suit if the Power Authority would be willing to provide a date when the "temporary" power plant would be closed.

The Power Authority, however, won't commit.

Meanwhile, the temperature in Central Park hit a record 92 degrees on Friday.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.hts/business/energy/899849

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 06, 2001