National Grid Announces the Upstate Upgrade; Multi-Year Initiative Will Improve Grid Resilience, Deliver Significant Benefits for Customers, Local Economies

Portfolio of 70+ transmission upgrade projects across Upstate NY will generate thousands of jobs and more than a billion dollars in regional economic growth over next 6 years, while delivering a smarter, stronger, cleaner energy grid for generations to come

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2024 / National Grid plans to invest more than $4 billion to transform its energy delivery system and propel economic growth across Upstate New York. Called the Upstate Upgrade, the collection of transmission enhancement projects will deliver a smarter, stronger, cleaner energy grid to support a more resilient energy network for generations to come. The company is embarking on more than 70 projects through 2030 that will generate thousands of new jobs and more than a billion dollars in additional economic growth, while ensuring the energy grid is able to meet customers' growing demand for electricity.

"The Upstate Upgrade represents a landmark investment and speaks to how National Grid is reinforcing the grid to meet our customers' growing energy needs while leading the clean energy transition," said Rudy Wynter, National Grid New York President. "This six-year portfolio of work will transform the grid, improve reliability and resilience and enable us to deliver renewable energy to homes and businesses across New York."

In addition to helping reach the state's climate goals as outlined in New York's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, the upgrades will deliver for Upstate New York customers by:

Improving the Energy Grid's Resilience: By reinforcing and upgrading infrastructure like transmission lines and substations, the Upstate Upgrade will provide greater resilience in the face of increasingly frequent extreme weather, such as blizzards, tornadoes, and severe windstorms, which are destructive to grid infrastructure. That can mean fewer outages in the future and, when outages do happen, power can be restored quicker. Advanced security measures also will be implemented to safeguard our network from external threats.

Strengthening the Upstate Economy: The Upstate Upgrade will benefit local economies by bringing over 1,700 new construction jobs, and associated residual spending to local communities, which in turn will create thousands of additional jobs, and at least $1.9 billion in overall economic output during and after construction, according to a third-party analysis performed by the consultancy West Monroe. The analysis also forecasts the Upstate Upgrade will create up to 2% economic growth in the project areas through 2030.