New York completes Smart Path Connect grid project, cutting energy costs

New York has finished energizing Smart Path Connect, a 100-mile transmission project state officials say will ease one of the biggest bottlenecks in the state’s upstate grid. The line is designed to move more clean power across northern and central New York, and officials say it could produce more than $438 million in annual savings for households, businesses and public-power customers.

The project creates a continuous 345-kV corridor across the North Country and Mohawk Valley, running through Clinton, Franklin, St. Lawrence, Lewis and Oneida counties. Built by the New York Power Authority and National Grid, it includes four new substations and upgrades to 10 existing substations, with the goal of carrying more generation from places like the St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project in Massena to the parts of the state where demand is highest.

Governor Kathy Hochul said the project would deliver "hundreds of millions of dollars in annual savings" by cutting congestion that has driven up electricity costs. New York Power Authority chief executive Justin Driscoll said the work was about "keeping the lights on, lowering costs and building a grid able to withstand extreme weather and rising demand." State officials also say the corridor should help unlock 1 gigawatt of renewable energy in Upstate New York, a key piece of New York’s push to meet Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act targets.

The build is part of a larger Upstate Upgrade program that includes more than 1,000 miles of transmission work across the state. NYPA says Smart Path Connect was split into two sections, Massena to Clinton and Croghan to Marcy, while National Grid described its portion as a 55-mile section between Croghan in Lewis County and Marcy in Oneida County. The utility said the project was expected to cost more than $1 billion, split between National Grid and NYPA.

The June 22 completion marks the end of a multi-year construction effort that began on Dec. 9, 2022. State officials first announced progress on the project in November 2023, after earlier energizing the separate 78-mile Smart Path line from Massena to Croghan in June 2023. National Grid later said crews logged 1 million field work hours and installed the last of 644 poles in Remsen.

The promise of Smart Path Connect is straightforward: reduce congestion, strengthen reliability and make room for more wind, solar and hydropower. Whether customers feel the savings quickly will depend on how fast those new electrons can actually move through the upgraded corridor, but the state is betting that a stronger backbone will finally let upstate generation reach the rest of New York more efficiently.