 | |
| Company type | New York state authority |
|---|---|
| Industry | Power generation |
| Founded | 1931; 94 years ago (1931) |
| Founder | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | Justin Driscoll – President and CEO |
| Products | Electricity generation |
| Owner | State of New York |
| Website | nypa.gov |
TheNew 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 theUnited States. It provides some of the lowest-costelectricity in the nation, operating 16 generating facilities and more than 1,400 circuit-miles of transmission lines. Its main administrative offices are inWhite Plains, New York.
NYPA uses no state tax dollars and incurs no state debt, financing its projects principally through the sale ofbonds. The bonds are repaid and the projects operated using revenues from operations.
State and federal regulations determine NYPA’scustomer base, which includes large and small businesses,not-for-profit organizations, public power systems and government agencies. NYPA also sells electricity toprivate utilities for resale (without profit) to their customers, and to neighboring states[which?], under federal requirements. Approximately 70 percent of the electricity it produces is clean, renewablehydropower.
The New York Power Authority has been financially responsible for theNew York State Canal Corporation since April 2016 and has owned it since January 1, 2017.[1]
Justin Driscoll has been the president andCEO since July 2023 and was previously acting president and CEO.[2]
From 2011, the president and chief executive officer wasGil C. Quiniones. The executive staff report to a seven-member board.[3] 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.[4] He resigned in 2021 to be CEO ofCommonwealth Edison company in Illinois.[5][6]
Justin Driscoll was voted as acting president and CEO in 2022[5] and automatically became president and CEO due to theNew York State Senate deciding to not hold a confirmation hearing.[2]
In 2024, Sandra Bleckman was hired as the New York Power Authority's workforce development project director.
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 theNYISO. One of the larger direct sales customers of electric power is theMetropolitan Transportation Authority. NYPA also provides electrical engineering consulting services to the MTA when the MTA is planning for and building new power facilities.
The NYPA owns and operates hydroelectric, pumped-storage hydroelectric, open and combined cycle gas turbine, and battery electric storage power plants. It formerly owned and operated two nuclear power plants, and is currently developing two solar PV plants.
The hub of NYPA’s statewide power transmission facilities is the Frederick R. Clark Energy Center, inMarcy, New York. NYPA’s high-voltage transmission assets include a 765-kilovolt (kV) line that stretches more than 100 miles from theCanada–US border to the Clark Energy Center and almost 1,000 miles of 345-kV power lines that crisscross New York State, including theMarcy South line and a 26.3 mi (42.3 km) transmission project, that follows an underground and underwater path fromWestchester County to Long Island.
The New York Power Authority has been financially responsible for theNew York State Canal Corporation since April 2016 and has owned it since January 1, 2017.[1]
Then-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).Leland Olds headed the authority from 1931 to 1939.[11]
St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project
TheInternational Joint Commission granted its approval for a cross-border construction project in 1952. In 1953, theFederal Power Commission issued a license for NYPA to develop the U.S. portion of a power dam crossing theCanada–US border. On May 13, 1954, PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation that cleared the way for construction of both ahydroelectric facility and theSt. Lawrence Seaway.First power was achieved in July 1958, and on June 27, 1959,Queen Elizabeth II and Vice PresidentRichard 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
In 1956, arockslide destroyed most of theNiagara 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 theFederal 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 theWestern world. In a recorded message broadcast February 10, 1961, to mark first power, PresidentJohn F. Kennedy called the Niagara project “an outstanding engineering achievement” and an “example to the world of North American efficiency and determination.”
Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project
Legislation signed by GovernorNelson A. Rockefeller in 1968 allowed NYPA to expand its generation assets and build nuclear and pumped storage power projects. This led to construction of theBlenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project, which produced electricity for the first time in July 1973, and theJames A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant (named after a NYPA chairman), inScriba,Oswego County, where power was first generated in February 1975.
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.[12] A 20MW solar installation in Fort Edward[9] and a 1.5MW solar facility in Albany[10] are the first two facilities announced under this expanded authority and are currently under development.
Francis Patrick Walsh, 1931–1939.
James Cummings Bonbright, 1939–1946.[13]
Maj.-Gen. Francis Bowditch Wilby, 1946–1950.[14]
John Edward Burton, 1950–1954.[15]
Robert Moses, 1954–1963.
James A. FitzPatrick, 1963–1977.[16]
Frederick R. Clark, 1977–1979.[17]
John Stuart Dyson, 1979–1985.
Richard M. Flynn, 1985–1994.[18]
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.
Gil C. Quiniones, 2012–2021.[19]
Justin Driscoll, 2022–Present.
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