TOWN OF MASSENA, New York (WWNY) – State leaders celebrated the completion of Smart Path Connect on Thursday, calling it the largest investment in the electric grid in 50 years. The $1.5 billion project is expected to help ratepayers save on their electric bills.
The project by the New York Power Authority and National Grid brings new substations and rebuilds transmission lines from Massena to Clinton and from Croghan to Marcy, spanning 100 miles in total. Officials say the improvements allow more renewable power to flow across the state.
“What this project will allow for is generators, whether it’s NYPA or other renewables here, there are a number of wind farms up in this area, and there are a number of solar developers looking to connect, so what it does to help is to basically unbottle and move an additional gigawatt of that clean energy,” said Patricia Lombardi, senior vice president of project delivery at NYPA.
One gigawatt is the equivalent of powering around 1 million homes.
Reducing costs for ratepayers
Smart Path Connect aims to reduce transmission congestion, which directly impacts what New Yorkers pay for electricity. According to officials, there are approximately $438 million in annual savings from reduced transmission congestion charges, which are passed directly to ratepayers.
“What a project like this does is try to relieve that congestion,” Lombardi said.
Officials say the project also increases grid reliability and resiliency as the state’s grid faces a narrow reliability margin this summer.
“Demand for power in New York is increasing, and this project is one of the ways that NYPA and New York are going to rise and meet that demand,” Lombardi said.
Construction details
Construction on the project began in 2022. According to Brendan Smith, senior construction engineer at NYPA, the transmission work required just under a million man-hours.
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