NEWS
(914) 390-8168denise.ellison@nypa.gov
WHITE PLAINS—The New York Power Authority (NYPA) Trustees and executive management honored six NYPA professional employees, in engineering, environmental science, and safety, health and fire protection, with Certificates of Appreciation on Tuesday in connection with the application of pioneering technologies in support of NYPA operations and the electric power industry.
One of the employees—Bruce Fardanesh, NYPA’s chief electrical engineer—was notified late last year of his election by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as an IEEE Fellow, effective Jan. 1, in recognition of his achievements in developing and integrating advanced technologies for enhanced operation and control of power systems as demonstrated on NYPA’s power grid. Only 298 individuals out of 400,000 worldwide IEEE members were selected for this prestigious power engineering honorific for 2013.
The five other employees honored by NYPA at Tuesday’s Trustees’ meeting are among the national recipients of 2012 Technology Transfer Awards from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the electric utility industry's premier collaborative research organization. EPRI recognized them for contributions involving electric power generation, power utilization and the environment. The individuals are John Markowitz of Ossining, N.Y, Jonathon Mayette of Waddington, N.Y., John Nolan of Wantagh, N.Y., John Nowicki of Colton, N.Y., and Jiankang Zhu of White Plains, N.Y.
“The Power Authority trustees and executive management can point with pride every day to the achievements of our statewide work force, and are especially proud of the six individuals we’re honoring with Certificates of Appreciation at today’s NYPA trustees’ meeting,” John R. Koelmel, NYPA chairman, said.
“The accomplishments of these stellar employees reflect the emphasis by the New York Power Authority under Governor Cuomo’s leadership to integrate innovative technologies to bolster our performance and support a clean environment,” Gil C. Quiniones, NYPA president and chief executive officer, said.
Fardanesh, a 22-year veteran employee, working out of NYPA’s White Plains Office, has been instrumental in NYPA’s installation of phasor measurement technologies at generating facilities and substations to enhance real-time situational awareness of transmission conditions, to anticipate potential problems and take effective action to ensure reliability.
Fardanesh, of Bergen County, N.J., holds three patents and has published numerous technical papers and reports. He will be honored at the IEEE’s Power Engineering Society’s general meeting in July.
“The IEEE Grade of Fellow is a highly esteemed distinction reserved for an extremely small percentage of our institute’s membership,” Noel N. Schulz, president of the IEEE Power & Energy Society, said. “The conferring of this distinction upon Bruce Fardanesh by the IEEE Board of Directors, through a rigorous peer nomination and review process, is a great testament to Bruce’s accomplishments for enhanced operation of the power grid.”
The NYPA awardees of the 2012 EPRI Technology Awards were recognized for their work in the following areas:
“The 2012 Technology Transfer Award winners have shown exceptional application of EPRI research and technology, solving a problem of size and significance; championing a technology for their companies and the industry; driving progress in the electricity sector; and providing meaningful benefits for their stakeholders and society,” said Bryan Hannegan, vice president of environment and renewable energy at EPRI.
■The New York Power Authority uses no tax money or state credit. It finances its operations through the sale of bonds and revenues earned in large part through sales of electricity. ■NYPA is a leader in promoting energy efficiency, new energy technologies and electric transportation initiatives.■It is the nation's largest state public power organization, with 16 generating facilities in various parts of New York State and more than 1,400 circuit-miles of transmission lines. ■Approximately 80 percent of the electricity it produces is clean renewable hydropower. Its lower-cost power production and electricity purchases support hundreds of thousands of jobs throughout the state.■For more information, www.nypa.gov