In a press release issued jointly by Consolidated Edison and Ambient Corporation on June 8, 2004, there is an announcement of "up to $200,000" in funding being awarded by the New York State Emergency Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA) to "enhance their PLC pilot in Westchester County."

This "PLC pilot" is the broadband over power line (BPL) trial repeatedly complained about to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). These complaints were recently reported upon in a Broadband over Power Line World article entitled "ARRL CEO Dave Sumner discusses Texas and New York RFI complaints, says he's "very hopeful" that Kevin Martin will do a better job resolving RFI issues than his predecessor, Michael Powell".

Although the announcement of this award in the June 8, 2004, press release from Consolidated Edison and Ambient Corporation has not been updated since then, more recent comments by a spokesperson for NYSERDA would seem to indicate that the "up to $200,000" from that New York State authority in support of the Briarcliff Manor BPL trial has not been forthcoming.

In an exclusive audio interview on Etopia Media's Broadband over Power Line World (BPLW), recorded and posted on March 21, 2005, NYSERDA spokesperson Tom Collins said that "at this point we do not have a signed contract so we are not doing anything currently at the moment with regards to what's going on there [the Consolidated Edison/Ambient BPL trial in Briarcliff Manor, New York]."

Mr. Collins also said, "At the moment we are not providing any financing. We do not have a contract to do that at this point," he said.

It should be noted that in the original, June 8, 2004, press release, mention of the award for this project was tempered with a reference to the fact that the grant had been awarded "pending final contract negotiations."

In the March 21, 2005 interview on BWAW, NYSERDA spokesperson Collins was asked if NYSERDA was currently negotiating a contract with Con Ed to provide them with financial support. His reply both corroborated the qualification contained in the press release and indicated that the monetary supported referenced in that document had not yet materialized when he said that "Yes. We are working towards that at the moment….at the moment, we have not done any contracts."


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