Governor Kathy Hochul this week announced the commencement of construction on the Smart Path Transmission Project, a plan to rebuild 100 miles of existing transmission lines in New York State. The primary scope of work includes replacing aging wood H-frames with steel poles and replacing or upgrading approximately ten substations along the project path in the North Country and the Mohawk Valley.
Led by New York Power Authority (NYPA), the Smart Path Transmission Project is the latest component of the VISION2030 Strategic Plan, which is focused on helping New York State meet lofty clean energy goals to have a zero-carbon emission energy system by 2040. It is estimated to result in the reduction of more than 1.16 million tons of CO2 emissions.
Map of ongoing transmission projects in New York State
NYPA estimates the project will provide more than $447 million in annual savings in northern New York and create hundreds of clean energy jobs during construction. Construction is expected to be completed in 2025.
“The expansion and modernization of New York’s transmission system is critical to increasing resiliency and advancing New York’s ambitious clean energy goals,” governor Hochul said. “New York is leading the way in making bold energy infrastructure investments that will create jobs, boost local economies, and advance New York’s nation-leading efforts to build a carbon-free energy system by 2040.”
The Smart Path Transmission Project complements and expands upon the authority’s existing Smart Path project, already underway and expected to be completed in 2023, and the Marcy to New Scotland Transmission Upgrade Project, which the power authority is undertaking with LS Power Grid New York in the Mohawk Valley and the Capital Region.
Following a competitive bidding process, the New York Power Authority Board of Trustees approved a six-year, $276 million contract to Michels Power, Inc. for the construction of the project’s transmission lines and another five-year, $104 million contract in May for work on the project’s substations.
“As we head into the winter months, I am encouraged to see the progress New York is making on rebuilding our integral transmission lines, making them more resilient to increasingly more severe winter storms like the one we just experienced in Buffalo,” said New York Power Authority interim president and CEO Justin E. Driscoll. “Our investments in transmission are vital to New York’s clean energy future.”
With the addition of the Smart Path Connect, these investments will establish a continuous 345 kilovolt transmission path that greatly expands the deliverability of renewable power from northern and western regions to high demand areas across the state, including New York City.
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Why so much in the Adirondacks where nobody lives.
Hydro Quebec has a surplus of hydroelectric capacity. They have been trying to link it to the US market for years. New York in particular.
This is excellent news. Coupled with the future underwater Hudson River transmission line, clean Quebec hydropower will be able to compliment the coming offshore wind farms.
Wind farms, lol! Massive, moronic boondoggle fighting a “crisis” that doesn’t even exist.