Con Edison works with SUNY Albany to install weather stations in New York City

Con Edison is working with the State University of New York at Albany to install 17 weather-monitoring stations in New York City to gather data that will help it better understand climate trends.

The “New York City Micronet” project is designed to provide information on warming trends within the city. The conclusions will help guide the investments the company needs to makes to protect its energy-delivery systems from severe weather events.

“Climate change makes smart infrastructure planning and design essential,” Charles Viemeister, Con Edison’s project manager, said. “We’ll use data from the Micronet to gain additional insight into the local short-term and longer-term impacts of climate change. We are always looking for technologies that can help us maintain the resilient, reliable service our customers need.”

Six of the stations will be placed on the roofs of Con Edison buildings, while 11 will be at ground level. The stations will monitor real-time temperature, pressure, wind speeds and direction, precipitation, and other weather variables. The tallest station, located in Staten Island, will be 30 feet.

The stations will send the data to the NYS Mesonet at the university, which is the largest early-warning, weather-detection network in the nation. The Mesonet consists of 126 weather stations in every county in the state.

“This partnership with Con Edison is the latest example of NYS Mesonet providing a service to make our state more resilient to weather extremes and better inform weather risk-management decisions,” Chris Thorncroft, director of the NYS Mesonet, along with UAlbany’s Atmospheric Sciences Research Center and Weather and Climate Analytics Center of Excellence, said. “UAlbany has access to the largest concentration of atmospheric, climate, and environmental researchers in New York. We continue to create smart business solutions to empower industry partners statewide.”

The stations will be in place by the end of the year. Con Edison is investing $3 million in the project, including $1.6 million with the university.

Con Edison delivers electricity, natural gas, and steam to 3.5 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, N.Y.