About Us
LS Power Grid New York Corporation I (“LS Power Grid New York”) is a New York public utility providing transmission service that constructs, owns, and operates transmission facilities to help deliver energy to homes and businesses across New York state.
The electric transmission facilities were built within existing utility corridors between the Towns of Marcy and New Scotland, helping relieve bottlenecks on the New York state power grid, supporting the transmission of renewable energy, replacing aging infrastructure to improve reliability, and providing many other benefits to businesses and residents across New York state.
Roughly 93 miles in length, our transmission project includes several different components. Along much of the corridor length, two sets of aging “H”-frame transmission towers were replaced with just one set of modern monopole structures that can move more electricity, more efficiently – approximately five times the capacity of the lines they replaced. We also upgraded several existing substations and constructed two new, indoor gas-insulated substations using state-of-the-art technology. By using existing rights-of-way and today’s best technologies, we proactively minimized the impact on residents and surrounding communities.
Project History
In 2012, the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) initiated a proceeding and invited developers to submit initial project ideas to achieve objectives defined within the New York Highway Energy Blueprint.
The PSC paused the process in 2014 to conduct a needs assessment of congestion in the Mohawk Valley and Hudson Valley in response to requests to reexamine the issues and need for transmission upgrades. After confirming the upgrades were required, the New York Independent System Operators (NYISO) issued a request in 2016 for proposals to address the underlying need.
In April 2019, NYISO selected a joint proposal by LS Power Grid New York (LS Power) (formerly known as North America Transmission, LLC) and the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to upgrade the transmission system within existing utility rights-of-way. NYISO’s selection was the final step in a series of processes lasting more than five years, with substantial public and stakeholder involvement, to identify the most efficient and cost-effective transmission upgrades to reduce congestion, improve reliability, and provide better access to renewable resources around New York state by strengthening the transmission system.
LS Power and NYPA submitted an application to the New York State Public Service Commission in 2019 and were granted an Article VII Certificate and approval for the project’s first Environmental Management and Construction Plan segments in 2021 in Case No. 19-T-0549 (available at NYDPS-DMM: Matter Master 19-01931/19-T-0549). The issuance of these approvals enabled the start of construction activities shortly after in 2021. Following nearly three years of construction, the project was fully energized by the end of 2023.
For decades, LS Power has been at the leading edge of the electric industry’s evolution, often introducing or commercializing new technologies and developing new markets. Today is no different. LS Power is at the forefront of the greening of the electric grid. Through LS Power’s national fleet of utility-scale solar, wind, hydro, natural gas-fired, and battery storage generation projects, our customer-facing distributed energy resources and energy efficiency platforms, and by building the transmission that connects it all, LS Power is not just talking about the decarbonization of the system – LS Power is making it happen.
LS Power Grid, an affiliate of LS Power, focuses on the development, construction, and operation of the company’s transmission portfolio. In every project, LS Power’s development philosophy centers on meeting the needs of customers by providing safe, reliable, competitive energy while protecting the environment and working together with local communities.
Learn more at www.lspower.com and www.lspowergrid.com.
LS Power Grid New York’s dedicated team of operations, engineering, and maintenance staff work around-the-clock to ensure the reliable and secure operation of our transmission facilities using the latest advancements in equipment and energy management systems.
The facilities which operate LS Power Grid New York are fully redundant, North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) certified High Impact Rating control centers that meet all physical and cybersecurity requirements. The current primary and backup control centers are located in separate physical locations, but near to one another to to provide sufficient geographic diversity while allowing transmission system operators to relocate in less than 2 hours as required by NERC. The backup control center fully mirrors the primary control center and complete transfer of control can occur without losing any monitoring or control capabilities. In addition, each control center has redundancy in communications, power supply, HVAC and humidity control, and gas fire suppression systems. The primary and backup control centers maintain emergency provisions including cots, blankets, water, and food. These provisions are stored inside each of the secure control rooms. This enables continuous, high-functioning operations during periods of prolonged emergency conditions.
The control center is fully operated in-house and is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Operating the control center is a team of internal personnel who are NERC certified and pursue ongoing education to maintain their certifications and use the latest advances in EMS and visualization to manage the system. The in-house control center staff has decades of experience in operations, control, and management of the bulk electric system with specific experience operating transmission systems in NYISO. In addition, the staff has access to a fully functioning control center simulator to train for unexpected emergencies and support drills to assess readiness.
Information on LS Power Grid New York’s standards of conduct can be found at: www.lspower.com/ferc-conduct-standards/