Newsday (Suffolk Edition) from Melville, New York • 36

A36 vXo i fe 1' nl US Rep Blasts FirstEnergy Says power company failed ry relationships and an inability to adapt to changes in markets according to a report released earlier this year by Rating Research LLC a New Jersey-based reputation-rating firm founded in part by former Investor Services executives two years ago Schneider said he had not seen the study and could not comment on it In the survey 365 senior executives in the industry and 55 financial analysts were asked how they felt about for example a utility marketing financial stability environmental focus and global capabilities Executives ranked FirstEnergy last in most of these categories including whether the company attracted and retained high-quality employees was led by a highly-talented management team and invested to keep its workforce up to date Executives also ranked FirstEnergy last in the organizational culture and ethics category which asked whether the company adheres to ethical business practices is trustworthy and is honest and open to the public In their first face-to-face talks since the blackout Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and his Canadian counterpart I Icrb Dhaliwal vowed yesterday to determine the cause of the outage and prevent it from happening again Ily Tomoeh Murakami Tse HTAKK I1IKKKSI1 INIlKNT Iikcwood Ohio PrrsHure mount- id yesterday against FirstEnergy an Akron-based company under scrutiny us the potential trigger of hut week's blackout with an Ohio congressman petitioning to revoke the operating license no more time for wniting for something else to said Rep Dennis Kucinich a candidate for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination A longtime critic of FirstEnergy Kucinich blasted the company for its failure to adequate facilities to meet the reasonable needs of consumers properly maintain its sion system and to maintain the ulnrm warning A FirstEnergy spokesman called Kucinich 's moves to conclusions about the cause of the blackout is simply irresponsible at this said Todd Schneider Also yesterday a report surfaced that ranks FirstEnergy dead last in many ethical organizational and workforce effectiveness measures among the leuding power companies executives perceive it as having weak management poor regulato Ths headquarters of controversial power company FirstEnergy Corp in Akron Ohio Businesses Up and Running on Their Own Power POWER from A6 Beyond Long Island is a significant amount of cogeneration that already said Tom Bourgeois senior economist with the Pace University Energy Project in White Plains tends to occur in large industrial facilities seeing a resurgence of interest in a different kind of cogeneration facilities smaller Existing co seen some companies looking at alternative heating and energy sources such as fuel cells and solar power to supplement their LIPA feed For example a supermarket in Hauppauge recently installed a $180000 60-kilowatt microturbine that can supply 15 to 20 percent of the electricity needs The cogeneration units mainly are fueled by natural gas though diesel also enn lie used Bruce Germano vice president of retail services for LIPA said he hasn't seen huge push in the market to go totally independent of the grid He has New Looks at Alternative Energy Mini Plants GRID from A6 generation facilities in New York State number about 210 producing a total of about 5000 megawatts he said is a growing said Wally Parker president of KeySpan Energy Delivery noting that companies are interested not only in cogeneration but also in back-up generators fuel cells and microturbines Former NHL player Gerry Hart owner of The Rinx in Hauppauge said he recently installed a 300-kilowatt gas-powered backup generator to keep the ice frozen at the facility in case the power goes out He is in the early stages of evaluating another system that could provide up to 50 percent of The electricity and create heat as well It would cost just under $300000 Gregory Ferraro chief operating officer of Kings Food Service Professionals in Holtsville said the company purchased its building on Furrows Road six years ago because it came with generators that enable the company to be almost totally self-sufficient Last week Kings affected by the blackout because of a pair of 800-kilowatt generators that it uses 24 hours a day seven days a week Having a reliable power source is crucial for Kings which delivers 25 million pounds of food per week and needs its refrigerators and freezers to be on around the dock about food safety Ferraro said The company could have lost more than $1 million in perishable products last week he said when needed and a backup diesel generator in case the other two fail In addition to powering the housing complex the heat generated from the plant provides Hie apartments with hot water as well KeySpan Energy Management the KeySpan subsidiary that builds and maintains the plants has also installed similar plants for four Long Island businesses that are off the grid And the North Hempstead Housing Authority hopes that another development already under construction will also employ the technology said Bette Segal the commissioner of the housing authority If generators were cars said Mark McMenamin the project manager for the Laurel Homes mini-plant is like the new fuel cells at $35000 each for a research and development program There are already 57 such experimental cells on Long Island mostly concentrated at a single substation in Babylon but the newer models will be able to operate even during a blackout Manufactured by Latham-based Plug Power the fuel cells turn natural gas into hydrogen power and emit water and a small amount of carbon dioxide as a by-product They generate roughly five kilowatts each or enough to power five single-family homes The natural gas plant at Laurel Homes is larger and contains three generators: a 90-kilowatt generator that operates full time a 190-kilowatt generator that switches on 12 Though alternative energy delivery sources were hardly a conversation starter at cocktail parties before Inst week interest in the topic is at its peak right now Miniature power plants like the Laurel Homes generator or even smaller fuel cells that some envision ns the future of energy are making news as two alternatives that could sustain power in small pockets when the next blackout strikes Taking up the mantle of self-sufficient power plants LIPA Chairman Richard Kesscl yesterday announce that the Long Island Power Authority was purchasing 20.