Valley Energy Center

As part of our continuing efforts to keep the community informed of the progress at the CPV Energy Valley Center in Wawayanda, we wanted to provide an important update.

Since completing commissioning of the CPV Valley Energy Center on our back up fuel in early May, the facility has been operational and providing reliability benefits to the electric grid by being available to operate in times of system stress. During the last heat wave, the facility was put on standby by New York’s grid operator to meet the soaring demand.

Millennium Pipeline Company completed construction and testing of the gas lateral on July 8th and received the final certificate to operate on July 9th. Federal and State regulators conducted numerous inspections throughout the pipeline construction and found no violations or infractions.

Now that gas is available, the final testing and commissioning phase is underway. The primary goal of this final phase is to operate the equipment on natural gas and enable the operation of both gas turbines and steam turbine together, which maximizes the efficiency of the facility. Once complete, the CPV Valley Energy Center will be one of the most efficient power plants in the United States. Although it is impossible to predict an exact date of completion, we are planning to complete all testing by mid-August. These testing and commissioning activities are a necessary step and are conducted in accordance with Federal and State air emission standards.

Once operating on natural gas, the CPV Valley Energy Center will displace older, less efficient fossil fuel generation operating today. By replacing that older generation, New York’s carbon emissions are estimated to be reduced by 1/2 a million tons per year. The CPV Valley Energy Center will also use less natural gas to create the same amount of electricity it displaces, which means less fuel will be extracted and imported into the state. As New York strives to achieve its goal of 50% renewables electric generation by 2030, the operational flexibility of the CPV Energy Center will greatly enhance the ability to balance renewables and help New York to meet its renewable goals.

We encourage you to continue to visit this website periodically to obtain additional updated information.