The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is a public benefit corporation owned by the State of New York and is the largest state public power utility in the United States. It provides some of the lowest-cost electricity in the nation, operating 16 generating facilities and more than 1,400 circuit-miles of transmission lines. Its main administrative offices are in White Plains, New York.
NYPA uses no state tax dollars and incurs no state debt, financing its projects principally through the sale of bonds. The bonds are repaid and the projects operated using revenues from operations.
State and federal regulations determine NYPA’s customer base, which includes large and small businesses, not-for-profit organizations, public power systems and government agencies. NYPA also sells electricity to private utilities for resale (without profit) to their customers, and to neighboring states, under federal requirements. Approximately 70 percent of the electricity it produces is clean, renewable hydropower.
The New York Power Authority has been financially responsible for the New York State Canal Corporation since April 2016 and has owned it since January 1, 2017. Conflicts of interest and lax accounting have been an issue. Bid rigging and fraud convictions have occurred among suppliers. Development of new power generation has lagged. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has pushed it to get into the construction and management of "sustainable", "renewable", and "clean energy" power generation projects.
Justin Driscoll has been the president and CEO since July 2023 and was previously acting president and CEO.
Organization
From 2011, the president and chief executive officer was Gil C. Quiniones. The executive staff report to a seven-member board. He resigned in 2021 to be CEO of Commonwealth Edison company in Illinois.
In 2017, it had operating expenses of $2.335 billion, an outstanding debt of $1.305 billion, and a staffing level of 2,327 people.
Justin Driscoll was voted as acting president and CEO in 2022
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Name
! Type
! Capacity (MWe)
! Location
! Year of commission
|-
| Niagara Power Project – Lewiston Pumped Storage
| Pumped Storage Hydro
| 240
| Lewiston
| 1961
|-
| Niagara Power Project – Moses Niagara Power Dam
| Hydro
| 2860
| Gas Turbine
| 94
| CCGT
| 660
| Fort Edward
|
|-
| North Albany Landfill
| Solar PV
| 1.5
| Albany
|
|-
| Planned nuclear power plant
| Nuclear
| data-sort-value="1000" | 1000+
| Upstate New York
|
|}
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Electric transmission lines
The hub of NYPA’s statewide power transmission facilities is the Frederick R. Clark Energy Center, in Marcy, New York. NYPA’s high-voltage transmission assets include a 765-kilovolt (kV) line that stretches more than 100 miles from the Canada–US border to the Clark Energy Center and almost 1,000 miles of 345-kV power lines that crisscross New York State, including the Marcy South line and a transmission project, that follows an underground and underwater path from Westchester County to Long Island.
New York State Canal Corporation
The New York Power Authority has been financially responsible for the New York State Canal Corporation since April 2016 and has owned it since January 1, 2017.
thumb|left|St. Lawrence Power ProjectSt. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project
The International Joint Commission granted its approval for a cross-border construction project in 1952. In 1953, the Federal Power Commission issued a license for NYPA to develop the U.S. portion of a power dam crossing the Canada–US border. On May 13, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation that cleared the way for construction of both a hydroelectric facility and the St. Lawrence Seaway.
First power was achieved in July 1958, and on June 27, 1959, Queen Elizabeth II and Vice President Richard M. Nixon formally dedicated the St. Lawrence Project as a symbol of international cooperation. In 1981, NYPA’s half of the cross-border power dam was renamed the St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project in honor of the man who founded the Power Authority half a century earlier.
Niagara Power Project
thumb|Niagara Power VistaIn 1956, a rockslide destroyed most of the Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation's Schoellkopf hydropower plant, resulting in a power shortage that endangered thousands of local manufacturing jobs. In response to the emergency, Congress passed the Niagara Redevelopment Act in 1957. After obtaining a license from the Federal Power Commission, Robert Moses commenced work on NYPA’s second hydroelectric generating station in early 1958. When it was completed, three years later, the Niagara Power Project was the largest facility of its kind in the Western world. In a recorded message broadcast February 10, 1961, to mark first power, President John F. Kennedy called the Niagara project “an outstanding engineering achievement” and an “example to the world of North American efficiency and determination.”
thumb|left|Blenheim-Gilboa Power ProjectBlenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project <br />Legislation signed by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller in 1968 allowed NYPA to expand its generation assets and build nuclear and pumped storage power projects. This led to construction of the Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project, which produced electricity for the first time in July 1973, and the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant (named after a NYPA chairman), in Scriba, Oswego County, where power was first generated in February 1975.
Expanded Authority
The NYPA was newly authorized in the 2023-2024 state budget to develop, own, and operate renewable energy facilities which help meet the state's clean energy goals. A 20MW solar installation in Fort Edward<br />
Maj.-Gen. Francis Bowditch Wilby, 1946–1950.<br />
John Edward Burton, 1950–1954.<br />
Robert Moses, 1954–1963.<br />
James A. FitzPatrick, 1963–1977.<br />
Frederick R. Clark, 1977–1979.<br />
John Stuart Dyson, 1979–1985.<br />
Richard M. Flynn, 1985–1994.<br />
Clarence D. Rappleyea Jr., 1995–2001.<br />
Joseph J. Seymour, 2001–2002, 2005–2006<br />
Louis P. Ciminelli, 2002–2006.<br />
Frank S. McCullough Jr., 2006–2008.<br />
Michael J. Townsend, 2008–2012.<br />
John R. Koelmel, 2012.<br />
Gil C. Quiniones, 2012–2021.<br />
Justin Driscoll, 2022–Present.
See also
- Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
- Green Island Power Authority
- Indian Point Energy Center
- James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant
- Long Island Power Authority
- New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
- New York State Public Service Commission
- New York State Thruway Authority
- New York energy law
References
External links
- Power Authority of the State of New York in the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations