Lower Cost Electricity to Help Grow High-Tech Jobs At Columbia University Business Incubator
Contact Michael Saltzman 914-390-8181 michael.saltzman@nypa.gov
May 22, 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ALBANY—An allocation of lower cost power approved Tuesday by the New York Power Authority (NYPA) trustees will help a Columbia University enterprise that specializes in starting up biotechnology businesses protect 131 jobs and create 35 additional ones.
"This power allocation will help support the valuable work undertaken by the Audubon Business and Technology Center, which helps biotechnology companies get some traction during their crucial formative stages," said Joseph J. Seymour, NYPA chairman and chief executive officer. "This is another example of the vigorous efforts undertaken under Governor Pataki’s leadership to accelerate the growth of high-tech industries, and biotechnology is among those areas that offer the most exciting possibilities."
NYPA will provide 1,000 kilowatts (kw) of lower cost power to the New York City Public Utility Service (NYCPUS) for resale to Audubon, which occupies a building leased by Columbia University’s School of Health Science in upper Manhattan. In return for the power, the business incubator has promised to work toward the retention of 131 jobs at the nearly one-block-long facility on Broadway, along with the creation of 35 additional positions planned under a $500,000 expansion.
Audubon is expected to save approximately $200,000 a year on its electric bills from the NYPA power, which will be provided under a 10-year contract. Much of the savings will be passed onto the 16 biotechnology companies housed in the 50,000-square-foot space that Audubon occupies.
"We’re extremely pleased to be able to contribute, with our lower cost electricity, to the success of this highly regarded biotech facility," said Seymour.
The Audubon Business and Technology Center attracted its first tenants in 1996 and owes its existence to the combined efforts of Columbia University, New York City and New York State. The companies at Audubon are involved in bringing medical advances from the laboratory to the bedside.
NYCPUS is one of several downstate municipal distribution agencies that receive lower cost NYPA electricity for resale to industrial customers. NYPA provides the power from electricity it purchases from the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Plant near Oswego as well as power it provides from other sources.
