Rochester Gas & Electric has received a federal grant of approximately $16.5 million for efficiency improvements at the company's hydroelectric generating plant (Station 5) on the Genesee River.
The grant from the U.S. Treasury Department comes under the 2009 federal stimulus program.
The grant follows last year's $2.8 million award from the federal government for similar improvements at the utility's Station 2 hydroelectric plant, also located on the Genesee River.
Officials with RG&E's parent company, Iberdrola, say customers will get the benefit from the project not only because the grant money will help pay for the improvements, but they say the upgraded plants also will continue to generate low-cost, no-carbon energy for decades into the future.
