2020 Strategic Refresh
The New York Power Authority is the largest state power organization in the United States, with 16 generating facilities and more than 1,400 circuit-miles of transmission lines. NYPA management envisions 50% of the electricity supply coming from renewable energy by 2030, and they want to reduce greenhouse gases 40% by 2030, among other targets. These goals, originally set forth in 2014, are being updated in their 2020 Strategic Refresh.
Doug McMahon is VP, Strategy, at NYPA. “My job now moving forward is to make sure that [Refresh] becomes reality.”
McMahon describes the challenges. “Part of NYPA’s uniqueness is that it has lots of different types of folks from across the entire region. We have plants up in Niagara as well as a presence further down south in the state. You have lots of different viewpoints. You’ve got lots of different people with different experiences of the utility industry. Trying to bring that all together and get collective agreement can be challenging.”
McMahon sums up the vision of the future of NYPA. “This notion, this key thread that runs through the plan for me, is that NYPA needs to be, in the future, a digital utility at its heart... What would define success for me is if [our customers] think of NYPA as a services and technology organization as well as an engineering and infrastructure business.”
McMahon describes some of the biggest changes that would occur within NYPA in the next three or four years. “We’ll see a lot of changes in the skills and capabilities and competencies of our employees... We’re going to have to start to partner and collaborate with the other utilities in New York, with up-and-coming startup organizations, and with trusted technology vendors.”
