POTSDAM – Northern Power & Light and Boralex Hydro will announce hundreds of local customers, including Meadow East apartments in Potsdam and Paul Smith’s College, which have started receiving locally-sourced electricity through the states largest local renewable energy initiative.

The Sissonville Community Hydro Project has been over a year in the making.

In the coming year, 15,000 MWh of electricity generated on the Raquette River at the Sissonville hydroelectric facility will be sold to subscribers in surrounding communities, according to a press release from Northern Power & Light.

In lieu of a formal ribbon cutting, Northern Power & Light and Boralex Hydro will host a virtual press today at 10 a.m. to announce Potsdam as the home of the New York’s largest community renewable energy project, Sissonville Hydro.

On hand for the event will be Northern Power & Light co-founders Emmett and Ethan Smith, Boralex Hydro Operations manager Erik Bergman, Public Affairs Manager Darren Suarez, and Paul Smith's Sustainability Coordinator Kate Glenn.

To watch, visit here.

This project by Saranac Lake-based Northern Power & Light and Boralex Hydro is part of a state program called Community Distributed Generation, which allows customers to purchase their electricity directly from local power producers.

“Through this initiative, providers retain more of the value of the electricity they make, and customers served by National Grid can connect directly to local sustainable electricity at no additional cost. Currently only 10% of National Grid customers choose to receive renewable electricity,” the release said.