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NYPA trustees approve 5,000 kilowatt power allocation to Massena Arconic plant

Posted 12/12/18

By JIMMY LAWTON North Country Now New York Power Authority's trustees approved a proposed 5,000-kilowatt preservation power allocation for Arconic, which operates in the former Alcoa Massena West …

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NYPA trustees approve 5,000 kilowatt power allocation to Massena Arconic plant

Posted

By JIMMY LAWTON
North Country Now

New York Power Authority's trustees approved a proposed 5,000-kilowatt preservation power allocation for Arconic, which operates in the former Alcoa Massena West plant Tuesday.

At Tuesday meeting, Power Authority Vice President of Economic Development Keith Hayes said the allocation will help preserve 145 jobs there.

But a power allocation deal with Alcoa is still in the works, according to Hayes.

It is unclear how the preservation power agreement will tie into any other subsidy agreements with Aloca.

In 2015, shortly before Alcoa announced plans to close their Massena smelter, the company announced plans to split into two corporations - Alcoa and Arconic.

Not long after Arconic was formed, the state announced a bailout deal worth more than $70 million to keep the Alcoa smelter open through 2019 and preserve between 400 and 500 jobs.

The 2015 Alcoa deal granted the aluminum giant $30 million from the New York Power Authority in power discounts and $43.6 million from the state.

Alcoa had said on Nov. 2, 2015 it would curtail operations at the smelter at its Massena West plant, which would have eliminated at least 487 jobs, leaving about 217 positions for other functions at the plant. Under the 2015 agreement, Alcoa was required to employ a total of at least 600 full-time equivalent employees – those working at least 35 hours a week – throughout Massena West. The deal is set to expire in March of 2019.

Hayes said the agreement with Arconic is on the same contract as Aloca, but a deal with Alcoa has not yet been reached, though he expects negotiations will conclude in the near future.

At the meeting held Tuesday trustees also authorized public hearings for the proposed contracts.

Preservation power allocations are an economic development initiative created by state law in July 2005. It includes 490 MW of competitively priced hydropower produced at the St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project.

Requests from comment from NYPA regarding the allocation were not immediately returned.