Plug Power bets $30M
In a bid to cut electric bills and capital expenses, Plug Power purchased Joule Processing, of Houston, for $30 million, a story in the Albany Business Journal says. Plug Power makes liquid-hydrogen-fueled engines in the Capital Region, and the technology Joule possesses will cut the amount of electricity needed to create that fuel by about 25%. Plug Power’s CEO says the equipment could generate annual revenue of quarter billion dollars, the story says.
Fat Crow Gourmet expands commercial kitchen into Troy
The owners of Fat Crow Gourmet, a specialty foods operation specializing sauces and rubs, will run a wholesale commercial kitchen in Troy, the Albany Business Journal says. They are waiting on state permits, although they have already moved into the space. Their products can be found in dozens of stores regionally.
Ice Castles opens
Ice Castles leadership say they broke records for their attraction in Lake George Village that will last about six weeks, according to the Post-Star. The people interviewed in the Post-Star’s story came from out-of-state and even from out-of-country, as a couple from Poland made their way to the village as part of a larger trip. The attraction may draw as many as 90,000 visitors, by some estimates, to the area. Last week, Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce and CVB President Gina Mintzer told FoothillsBusinessDaily.com that the New Hampshire attraction which opened earlier this month, garnered 64,000 tickets in its opening days. [Read our earlier coverage here.]
Volunteers raise the Ice Palace
Volunteers in Saranac Lake have continued the time-honored tradition of cutting ice blocks from Lake Flower and building an ice palace on its shore, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise says. This year is no different, and the cold has made the ice 15 inches thick. Volunteers use “hand saws, chainsaws, ice saws, tongs, scoops, spuds, shovels, buckets, excavators, a knuckleboom loader and frontloaders” to create and move the blocks. Older generations have been building the palace for years, and they teach younger ones, the story says.
Warren Board to double meetings
The Warren County Board of Supervisors will start scheduling two monthly meetings beginning in March. Glens Falls Ward 3 Supervisor Claudia Braymer said the second meeting could improve efficiency as some topics need a response sooner than once a month. Other supervisor agreed, according to a story in the Post-Star, but said the day and exactly what each meeting will cover might have been discussed more. Chair Kevin Geraghty said they could try the date–the same as the meeting of the Personnel and Finance committee meetings–by trial and error.
Mobile homes and the affordable housing crisis
The Times Union is covering a mobile home park near Saratoga Lake that is to become a storage lot for boats and using it highlight the scarcity of affordable housing and the prevalence of mobile home parks in the county. The county has the highest income gap in the nation and is building housing faster than almost all other counties in the state, the story says, citing the 2020 U.S. census. The county also has the most mobile home parks in the state, and mobile homes are the bulk of affordable stock, the story says.