The State of New York has announced plans to rebuild 78 miles of power transmission infrastructure in the North Country. The rebuilt transmission line, called the Moses-Adirondack Smart Path Reliability Project, is expected to help the state meet its clean energy standard mandating 50 percent of New York’s consumed electricity come from renewable energy sources by 2030 by providing better transmission through St. Lawrence and Lewis counties.

“Transmission projects like these can play a critical role in channeling power produced upstate – where increasing amounts of renewable energy is coming on line – to areas where it is needed downstate,” according to a press release issued by Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office.  Construction is estimated to take four years and is slated to begin in 2019.

The $440 million rebuild of the Moses-Adirondack transmission artery includes replacing 78 of the 86-miles on each of two transmission lines that were originally constructed by the federal government in 1942 and acquired by the Power Authority in 1953. The transmission lines run from Massena in St. Lawrence County, home to NYPA’s St. Lawrence-FDR hydroelectric plant, to a substation in the Town of Croghan in Lewis County. The transmission lines are still supported in many areas by outmoded wooden poles that will be replaced with new steel monopole structures. The new structures and conductors are expected to be capable of transmitting up to 345 kilovolts, but initially operated at the current level of 230kV.

A rough map of the project provided by the state is available here

Photo: Moses Adirondack Power Line Map.