WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – The New York Power Authority (NYPA) announced today that it has partnered with Nokia of America Corporation through a competitive bidding process to pilot private wireless LTE technology at its Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project in Schoharie County. Nokia will be working with private spectrum providers on the project. NYPA also will be working with AT&T to see if its existing FirstNet system can provide similar private network benefits.

"The goal of this project is to build a secure, robust, and reliable wireless LTE network to enhance our operational and programmatic capabilities and leverage all the benefits of the ever-evolving innovation in wireless technology," said Gil C. Quiniones, NYPA President and CEO. "We believe that this network will advance NYPA along the path to becoming the nation's first end-to-end digital utility."

NYPA, the nation's largest state public power organization, relies heavily on wireless communications to conduct and monitor its operations. The new LTE technology will be piloted at the B-G site and then may be deployed at other NYPA sites, including the 16 generating facilities it operates and the 1,400 circuit miles of transmission lines across the state it owns and operates.

The LTE wireless network pilot program is targeted to complement several critical NYPA initiatives including its robust Communication Backbone and Sensor Deployment Programs. The $153 million Communication Backbone Program aims to replace NYPA's existing point-to-point circuits to manage the increased data flow from the deployment of intelligent sensors. Since 2017, NYPA has been working to install state-of-the-art sensor devices to more closely monitor the health of its transmission and generation assets and to further enable the capabilities of its iSOC, Integrated Smart Operations Center.

The LTE wireless network system, once adopted, also will help NYPA be a leader in the following areas: