It was with great interest that we interviewed Walt Jordan, a representative of DGEN Energy Partners, a company that sells generators that run quietly and have no measurable emissions. For a system strangled by energy policies that have given us among the highest electric rates in the country, the new power sources would be a breath of fresh air.
According to Jordan, the generators create electricity not through combustion but through compression. Fuel is not burned, it’s squeezed, and the byproducts can be easily filtered out. Using abundant natural gas, this process completely eliminates the Green New Deal argument that using fossil fuels will cause global warming.
Long Island needs an energy lifeline, and this technology just may be the answer. The state’s current plan relies on offshore turbines such as Sunrise Wind, which was put on the back burner by the Trump Administration for being too expensive.
Solar is not faring any better, with residents blanching over the huge space needed for the unsightly panels, which are manufactured by the nation’s global adversary, China. Both run into the battery problem of where the energy can be stored when the sun’s not out and the wind’s not blowing. No one wants the fire hazard of huge lithium batteries in their neighborhood.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s answer to the shortcomings of her green energy agenda is nuclear, which is almost laughable given the high cost, time to build, community opposition, and the industry’s failure at Shoreham.
The region’s natural gas generators have long been neglected, and the energy crisis is more acute than the politicians will admit. The New York Independent System Operator, the group that runs the state’s power grid, warns of shortages and blackouts if we don’t change course.
Linear generators are already supplying major users, including NYU Langone, Amazon, Prologis, and PSEG, which supplies Long Island with its energy through a deal with the Long Island Power Authority. The units can be up and running in a year, according to Jordan, and the cost per kWh is substantially less than what commercial customers are currently paying.
To save Long Island’s economy and give residential and commercial ratepayers a break, the powers that be would be well served by taking an honest look at linear power.