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NYPA board gives okay today for low cost-power to Potsdam Specialty Paper and Riverside Iron in Gouverneur

Posted 7/30/14

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) Board of Trustees today approved reduced-price power allocations to two St. Lawrence County firms, Potsdam Specialty Paper and Riverside Iron in Gouverneur. The …

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NYPA board gives okay today for low cost-power to Potsdam Specialty Paper and Riverside Iron in Gouverneur

Posted

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) Board of Trustees today approved reduced-price power allocations to two St. Lawrence County firms, Potsdam Specialty Paper and Riverside Iron in Gouverneur.

The low-cost power is expected to leverage an estimated $14.3 million in capital investments and support 79 jobs, 12 of which are going to be created, according to a press release from NYPA.

“As a lifelong resident of the North Country, I am pleased to see the great success of the governor’s ReCharge NY program in our region,” said Eugene L. Nicandri, a NYPA trustee and former St. Lawrence County Court judge.

“These low-cost power allocations will provide Potsdam Specialty Paper and Riverside Iron greater financial flexibility for their competitive operations,” Nicandri said.

Potsdam Specialty Paper, a paper manufacturing facility at Hewitville, will receive 2,116 kilowatts (kW) for a commitment to retain its 67 jobs and invest $14 million dollars into its facility over the next five years. The company manufactures specialty saturated paper grades that are used in the construction, automotive, home decor, and medical industries.

“This power allocation will allow our company to continue its operations in Potsdam, securing our talented workforce and reinforcing our position as a pillar of the local economy for years to come,” said Douglass H. Drumm, operations manager.

Riverside Iron in Gouverneur will receive 46 kW to assist in reopening its steel fabrication facility, creating 12 jobs and a $350,000 capital investment. The facility had closed in 2012. It was recently approved for $200,000 in financing from the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency through loan funds supported by NYPA capital.

“I am thankful to NYPA and the St. Lawrence County IDA for their efforts to help ensure the success of Riverside Iron’s fabrication facility reopening in Gouverneur,” said Eric Tessmer, president of Riverside Iron. “I look forward to providing long-term local job opportunities and re-establishing Riverside as a source of quality miscellaneous metal fabrications.”

These power allocations are being made under the ReCharge NY program, a different mechanism than that used to grant Corning in Canton a power allocation also announced this week, which comes through the Power Authority’s Preservation Power program..

In addition to jobs and capital investment commitments, other evaluation criteria for RNY applications include the significance of the cost of electricity to the overall cost of doing business, the applicant’s risk of closure or curtailing operations, the significance of the applicant’s facility to the local economy, and its commitment to energy efficiency.

RNY offers power contracts of up to seven years. Half of the power under the program, 455 MW, is from NYPA’s Niagara and St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt hydroelectric power plants, which provide some of the lowest-cost electricity in the state. The remaining 455 MW is power secured by NYPA from the wholesale market.

NYPA, under state law, also provides allocations of low-cost hydropower to Northern New York businesses from the St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project as part of the Power Authority’s Preservation Power program. The power is provided at a price that is currently 40 percent less than wholesale market electricity in the region. Preservation Power allocations currently support hundreds of jobs in St. Lawrence County.

“The Governor’s ReCharge NY program has been a great success thus far in the North Country and NYPA will continue to work with business and not-for-profit organizations in the region to keep up this significant momentum,” said NYPA President and CEO Gil Quiniones.