Powering up for the future: National Grid upgrade project intended to help upstate -- especially $4.2B chip fab

MALTA, Jul 02, 2009 (Albany Times Union - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- NGG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Reliable power is so important to GlobalFoundries Inc.'s planned $4.2 billion computer chip factory here that National Grid is upgrading large sections of its service territory feeding into the facility.

National Grid calls the project its Northeast Region Reinforcement Strategy. Although the British-based utility won't reveal the cost of the work, it's part of a $1 billion plan to upgrade transmission facilities across upstate New York.

"Without improvements being made to the northeast electrical system, the development of the (Luther Forest) campus could be jeopardized along with the economic benefits to the customers in the region," National Grid said in an April filing with the state Public Service Commission.

One of the key components will be construction of a 115-kilovolt transmission line from Rotterdam to Spier Falls, which is north of Saratoga Springs. It will run parallel to an existing line along the same route.

Other improvements include a new substation in the North Troy area and replacing wire in the Ballston Spa area that will increase capacity of the system.

Patrick Stella, spokesman for National Grid, stressed that the upgrades, which will take several years to complete, are also needed to support Saratoga County and Glens Falls -- not just GlobalFoundries.

"A lot of it has to do with growth in the area," he said.

Saratoga Economic Development Corp. puts the rate of growth in the county at 10.7 percent over the past decade, and EDC Warren County boasts that the Glens Falls metropolitan area consistently ranks high in job growth. National Grid expects demand for electricity in the Saratoga and Glens Falls region to increase 3 percent annually over the next 10 years.

But if Luther Forest develops as anticipated -- the park has space for up to three chip fabs as well as other manufacturing and commercial tenants -- then the demand, or load, could grow 7 percent annually.

"Load growth with and without the addition of (Luther Forest) is expected to exceed spare capacity within the region within a 10-year planning horizon," the company's PSC filing states.

The upgrades are in addition to a $16 million project being undertaken by Luther Forest Technology Campus Economic Development Corp., the nonprofit overseeing the park's development, to bring electric service into the 1,414-acre tech park. The park is a former logging forest just south of Saratoga Lake.

Using part of $30 million in funding from the state, the nonprofit is extending transmission lines from National Grid's Malta substation from the west and New York State Electric & Gas Corp.'s Mulberry substation from the east into a new substation within the park.

Roads and sewer and water lines are also being built.

Linking two substations to Luther Forest will provide redundant power to GlobalFoundries, a vital requirement for chip fabs, which use sophisticated equipment to etch integrated circuits onto 12-inch silicon wafers that are later cut into chips.

It can take two to three months to complete each wafer, with hundreds of complex steps taking place in which metals and chemicals are introduced to the wafers to create complex interconnections. A 2005 U.S. Department of Energy study found that an outage of even a few minutes can cost a chip manufacturer nearly $1 million in lost revenue.

The importance of redundancy was underscored during the ice storm that hit the region in December.

NYSEG's Mulberry substation was knocked out in the aftermath of the storm, affecting as many as 15,000 customers.

Larry Rulison can be reached at 454-5504 or by e-mail at lrulison@timesunion.com.

Bringing energy to the forest

New transmission lines will bring additional power to GlobalFoundries' $4.2 billion chip fab from National Grid's Malta substation and from NYSEG's Mulberry substation in Stillwater into the tech park, providing a redundant source of electricity. A new substation also will be built inside the park that will feed GlobalFoundries and future tenants.

Source: Luther Forest Technology Campus

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