BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

MASSENA -- New York Power Authority (NYPA) and National Grid officials were on hand in Massena June 25 to celebrate the completion of the Smart Path Connect transmission project after six years of work and millions of dollars in investment. 

NYPA President and CEO Justin Driscoll was also joined by local community leaders, local government task force representatives, state Senator Dan Stec and Assemblyman Scott Gray in celebrating the completion of the 100-mile transmission project. 

Driscoll said the project has provided critical energy infrastructure development and upgrades will ensure a "more reliable and resilient grid." 

Officials said the project will also provide "hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits to New York ratepayers" annually. 

The project included upgrades to a number of power lines and poles that were more than 50 years old. 

As part of the planning, upgrades and infrastructure was completed in three month phases to ensure continuity of service, in particular for Alcoa operations which have power lines at the location. 

Smart Path Connect links up to the Smart Path project, which was completed in 2023 to send more than one gigawatt of power from the power dam in Massena to Utica and Oneida County. 

That project came in at a cost of roughly $1 billion. 

NYPA officials said the project enabled roughly double the power delivery with the installation of multiple 345 kilovolt lines that are on steel frames, ensuring power will be reliably exported. 

Still, project leaders said the Haverstock substation has additional capacity. 

Gray questioned if the capacity would allow for additional power projects to come online in the county and Massena in particular. 

"It certainly would allow for more projects in the future, absolutely," Driscoll said in response. 

The project will also allow NYPA to maximize the potential of the Moses-Saunders dam, with the 345 kilovolt lines allowing for expanded capacity. 

Officials said the project was made possible with significant planning and investment from NYPA and National Grid, which operates as a regional utility company. 

In total, the Smart Path Connect project includes three new substations, with six others having been upgraded. An additional 45 miles of transmission lines were also installed between Massena and the town of Clinton. 

The substations in Massena, Chateaugay and Croghan are in fact digital stations, which engineers on the project said would allow for better oversight as power demands ebb and flow. 

The digital stations also offer instantaneous feedback for troubleshooting, they said. 

On the National Grid side of things, 55 miles of lines were ran between Croghan and Marcy, along with the substation in Glenfield. 

“Through the Smart Path Connect transmission project, under Governor Hochul’s leadership, we are modernizing energy infrastructure to help ensure the lights stay on and that we are lowering energy costs for New Yorkers,” Driscoll said. 

He offered his congratulations to everyone involved in the multi-year process, including the union laborers, local government task force leaders and technical experts. 

Officials say the investment will ultimately save ratepayers around three dollars for every dollar spent on the project. 

Those savings will be seen in the delivery fees on utility bills, officials said.