Green Island Invests in Power, and Its Future

GREEN ISLAND — It’s low tide, and the waters of the Hudson River are raging over a dam just upriver from the Green Island hydroelectric station.

Here, Green Island Mayor Ellen McNulty Ryan sees the future of this tiny village, built on less than a square mile of land where the Mohawk River meets the Hudson.

The Green Island Power Authority, which owns the hydro plant and operates its own electric utility, is making $6.2 million in upgrades to its transmission line and substation equipment. Just last month, the state announced a $750,000 grant for the project.

And GIPA has plans to expand the power station as part of its federal relicensing of the plant three years from now.

That expansion could cost $25 million, but would greatly expand the amount of power GIPA could provide residents and a growing commercial base.

"If we can do it, that guarantees us we’re going to have the power we need," Ryan said. "If we can make this work, with this relicensing, we’re going to be safe. If we lose our low energy costs, we lose our ability to compete."

GIPA’s hydro plant was built in 1922 by Henry Ford to provide power to a former Ford automotive parts factory that shut down about 20 years ago. It can generate as much as seven megawatts of electricity — enough to power about 7,000 homes.

But with a growing industrial base on the village’s north end that includes companies like mattress manufacturer Sealy, Honeywell International and Case Window and Door, Green Island has the need for more of its own power.

Unlike most local municipalities, which get power from utilities like National Grid, Green Island’s residents and businesses get their electricity through GIPA.

Before that it was the Green Island Electric Department, which was formed more than 100 years ago.

GIPA actually sells the power it generates from its hydro plant into the state’s wholesale electric market.

It gets the the power its residents and businesses use from contracts it has with the New York Power Authority for low-cost hydropower from Niagara Falls. GIPA also gets supplemental power from the New York Municipal Power Agency.

Because of this, GIPA’s rates are about 40 percent cheaper than traditional utilities in the region. And the power authority makes about $600,000 annually in municipal payments, used to support local schools and other services like fire and police.

Last summer, Green Island’s peak capacity reached six megawatts. But within five years, with expansion of the industrial base, that need is expected to reach 20 megawatts.

"That’s good, but it also brings a lot of challenges and development costs," said GIPA Chairman Jack Brown.

Two new companies, Arcadia Supply and John V. Warren, are coming to the village soon, increasing the need for power.

That increase in demand, along with the expiration of its New York Municipal Power Agency contract in 2013, is why GIPA wants to add a new 20-megawatt turbine and generator to the hydro plant.

The added capacity will give GIPA flexibility in the future to keep selling into the wholesale market — or to provide the community with the power itself, whichever keeps rates lower.

GIPA has also pursued a well-publicized plan to build a 100-megawatt hydro plant on the Mohawk River just above the Cohoes Falls.

The only problem with that plan is that a Canadian company, Brookfield Power, already operates a 38-megawatt plant just below the falls, and was given a 40-year federal license for its operation just last year.

GIPA has been fighting the license in a federal appeals court, and has spent more than $800,000 on the effort to build its own plant there.

Brown, the GIPA chairman, said the cost of the legal battle has been expensive, but worth it.

"Look where (the price of) energy is going," he said. "It’s an investment in the future." Rulison can be reached at 454-5504 or by e-mail at lrulison@timesunion.com.

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