The New York Power Authority (NYPA), officially the Power Authority of the State of New York, is a New York State public-benefit corporation. It is the largest state public power utility in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. NYPA provides some of the lowest-cost

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describe ...

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. NYPA uses no state tax dollars and incurs no state debt, financing its projects principally through the sale of

bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemical ...

s. 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 NYPA produces is clean renewable

hydropower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of ...

. 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.

Organization

Since 2011, the President and Chief Executive Officer has been Gil C. Quiniones. The executive staff report to a 7-member board. 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.

Operations

Electric power produced from NYPA's facilities – in addition to being sold to large and small businesses, not-for-profit organizations, public power systems, government agencies, private utilities for resale (without profit) to their customers, and neighboring states, under federal requirements – is sold into the wholesale electricity market of New York State, which is administered by the NYISO. One of the larger direct sales customers of electric power is the

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...

. NYPA also provides electrical engineering consulting services to the MTA when the MTA is planning for and building new power facilities.

Facilities

Hydroelectric generation

NYPA operates three large

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

complexes: the 2,441-

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

(MW) Niagara Power Project, on the

Niagara River The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York in the United States (on the east). There are diffe ...

in Lewiston; the 800-MW St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project, on the St. Lawrence River in Massena; and the 1,160-MW Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project in the Catskill Mountain towns of North Blenheim and Gilboa. NYPA also has four small hydro facilities with a net capability of 10-MW: the Ashokan Project in Ulster County, the Crescent Plant in Albany and Saratoga counties, the Gregory B. Jarvis Plant in Oneida County and the Vischer Ferry Plant in

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

and Saratoga counties.

Gas-fired generation

Other generating facilities include two highly efficient natural gas-fueled combined cycle power plants: the 150-MW Richard M. Flynn Power Plant, in Holtsville,

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

and a 500-MW facility, in Astoria,

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. Additionally, NYPA operates ten small power plants also fuelled by natural gas. Those sites – six in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and one in Long Island – have combined output of 460-MW.

Electric transmission lines

The hub of NYPA’s statewide power transmission facilities is the Frederick R. Clark Energy Center, in

Marcy, New York Marcy is a town in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 8,982 at the 2010 census. The town was named after Governor William L. Marcy. It lies between the cities of Rome and Utica. The Erie Canal passes through the southern p ...

. 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.

History

New York Governor Roosevelt signed the Power Authority Act into law on April 27, 1931 that established the Power Authority of the State of New York (PASNY); the name was later changed to New York Power Authority (NYPA). StLawrencePowerProject

St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project The

International Joint Commission The International Joint Commission (french: Commission mixte internationale) is a bi-national organization established by the governments of the United States and Canada under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909. Its responsibilities were expa ...

granted its approval for a cross-border construction project in 1952. In 1953, the

Federal Power Commission The Federal Power Commission (FPC) was an independent commission of the United States government, originally organized on June 23, 1930, with five members nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The FPC was originally created in ...

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 Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

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 NiagaraPowerVista

In 1956, a rock slide destroyed most of the

Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation was a New York State utility company, which was acquired in 2000 by National Grid plc. The Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation designation was retired, using variations of NationalGridUS (such as National Grid Buffa ...

'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

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...

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.” BlenheimGilboa

Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project
Legislation signed by Governor

Nelson A. Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...

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 Oswego County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 117,525. The county seat is Oswego. The county name is from a Mohawk-language word meaning "the pouring out place", referring to the point at ...

, where power was first generated in February 1975.

List of Chairs of the New York Power Authority

Francis Patrick Walsh, 1931-1939.
James Cummings Bonbright, 1939-1946.
Maj.-Gen. Francis Bowditch Wilby, 1946-1950.
John Edward Burton, 1950-1954.

, 1954-1963.
James A. FitzPatrick, 1963-1977.
Frederick R. Clark, 1977-1979.
John Stuart Dyson, 1979-1985.
Richard M. Flynn, 1985-1994.
Clarence D. Rappleyea Jr., 1995-2001.
Joseph J. Seymour, 2001-2002.
Louis P. Ciminelli, 2002-2006.
Frank S. McCullough Jr., 2006-2008.
Michael J. Townsend, 2008-2012.
John R. Koelmel, 2012-present.

References

External links

*
Power Authority of the State of New York
in the

New York Codes, Rules and Regulations The ''New York Codes, Rules and Regulations'' (NYCRR) contains New York state rules and regulations. The NYCRR is officially compiled by the New York State Department of State's Division of Administrative Rules. Contents See also * '' New York ...

* {{authority control Municipal electric utilities of the United States Hydroelectric power companies of the United States 1931 establishments in New York (state) Public benefit corporations in New York (state)

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Energy in New York (state) Energy infrastructure on Long Island, New York