New York Power Authority Transmission Project Advances

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
July 17, 2022

The New York Power Authority’s Smart Path transmission project in the North Country is two-thirds complete, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on July 13.

Smart Path, an upgrade of 78 miles of transmission lines which span from Massena in St. Lawrence County to Croghan in Lewis County, is designed to strengthen transmission lines against weather events and enable the reliable transmission of clean energy from northern New York into the state’s electric power grid. Construction on Smart Path upgrades began in early 2020 and are on track to be completed next year.

In addition to the Smart Path Project, the rebuilding of several other large transmission projects are in progress across New York State including NYPA and LS Power New York’s Central East Energy Connect project which project which involves the rebuild and expansion of more than 100 miles of historically heavily congested transmission lines in the Utica/Albany corridor; New York Transco’s New York Energy Solution which involves the rebuild of approximately 54 miles of transmission lines in the Hudson Valley and NextEra Energy Transmission New York’s Empire State Line Project which recently completed approximately 20 miles of transmission lines in Western New York.

Several other New York State transmission line rebuild projects, as well as new transmission projects, are on deck for construction and in various stages of the permitting process.

These include two new major transmission line projects selected by Governor Hochul last year to help transport clean energy to New York City: Clean Path New York, a project developed through a collaboration between NYPA and Forward Power (a joint venture of Invenergy and EnergyRe) and the Champlain Hudson Power Express Transmission Project developed by Transmission Developers Inc

NYPA and National Grid are collaborating on another North Country transmission project known as Smart Path Connect which will run East-West from Clinton to Massena and North-South from Croghan to Marcy.

When completed, the two segments of Smart Path Connect will join the Smart Path project, creating one continuous upgraded transmission line from Clinton to Marcy. The Smart Path Connect project is currently under environmental review with the New York Public Service Commission.

Together these transmission projects total nearly 1,000 miles of new and upgraded New York State transmission lines that will help advance New York’s goal of obtaining 70% of the state’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and realizing a zero-emission energy grid by 2040.