NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the New York Power Authority is launching a 15-year modernization and digitization program to extend the operating life of the Niagara Power Project.
The program known as 'Next Generation Niagara' centers on the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant, the Niagara plants main generating facility.
The New York Power Authority plans to invest $1.1 billion in the project.
"The Niagara Power Project is the largest producer of hydropower anywhere in the northeast, and obviously it's one of our largest employers in Western New York, not only Niagara County, so you've got to invest in that" State Senator Robert Ortt said.
NYPA's Board of Trustees approved the major capital investment at its July 30 meeting.
The $1.1 billion investment makes Next Generation Niagara the largest capital project in NYPA's history.
Cuomo says the investment will keep the Niagara Power Project running for another 50 years and says it will help reach his plan to decarbonize New York's electric power system by 2040.
The improvements will include replacing aging equipment with the latest machinery and advanced digital technologies to optimize the hydroelectric project's performance.
"These investments as I understand them are more structural and more about the operation in efficiency of the power project itself " Ortt said.
Ortt says he is happy to see the investment, but says it should have happened a long time ago.
"The Power Project provides millions, tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars to New York State every year. It is long overdue in my view to see this money coming back into the Power Project and being invested," he said.
Construction will be done in four phases and work will begin later this year.
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