By Michael Kuser

ALBANY, N.Y. — The Independent Power Producers of New York (IPPNY) rang in the new year Monday with a barbecue, a list of priorities, and a new logo.

“Topping the list regarding New York’s wholesale electricity market is the issue of pricing carbon,” said IPPNY CEO Gavin Donohue.

Donohue said IPPNY would work closely with the carbon pricing task force set up by NYISO and the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) “[to monitor] the process for fair and open competition in the wholesale electricity market for all solutions, especially generation, transmission, and energy storage — and the viability of existing investments operating in the competitive market.”

IPPNY has said it “strongly supports” a carbon pricing approach that would add a carbon value to a resource’s commitment and dispatch costs based on its emission rate, with the price-per-ton set by the PSC.

A number of elected state officials attended the Jan. 29 reception, including Sen. Joseph A. Griffo, (R-Rome), chairman of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee, and Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Staten Island), chairman of the Committee on Energy.

PSC Commissioner Diane Burman also attended the event, which took place just hours after Gov. Andrew Cuomo released the state’s master plan for developing offshore wind. (See NY Offshore Wind Plan Faces Tx Challenge.)

Entering his fourth year as chairman of his committee, Griffo said he looked forward to working with IPPNY on free market issues — and the state’s master plan for offshore wind could “conflict with” the philosophy of free enterprise. He questioned the wisdom of the proposal to put a state agency — the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) — in charge of contracting for the energy output of offshore wind farms.

Griffo also said it was unlikely that he or IPPNY members would accept any form of utility-owned generation, which was one of seven market structure proposals in NYSERDA’s comments filed with the commission on Monday.

Cusick said he had “a good working relationship” with Griffo on several non-energy issues and looked forward to working together on energy.

“I just hope I’m not being set up here,” Cusick said, “but that’s just the instinctive reaction of a kid from Staten Island.”

Donohue said IPPNY was established in 1986 and last year he and other board members pondered “ways to breathe fresh life into the organization.”

The new logo was a product of that effort.

“Now at least we don’t look like a waste management company,” he said.