RG&E Receives $16.5 Million from the U.S. Treasury Department for Hydroelectric Improvements

RG&E customers and environment will benefit from ARRA award

Rochester, NY – RG&E, a subsidiary of Iberdrola USA, announced the U.S. Department of the Treasury has awarded them approximately $16.5 million for efficiency improvements at the Company’s largest hydroelectric generating plant (Station 5) on the Genesee River. The Treasury Department authorized the payment under Section 1603 of Division B of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. RG&E customers will get the benefit of the award as its net proceeds will help pay for the hydro station improvements. 

This grant follows last year’s $2.8 million award from the U.S. Department of the Treasury for similar improvements at the Company’s Station 2 hydroelectric generating plant, also located on the Genesee River. RG&E customers received the benefit from that award as well.

“We gladly took on this task to ensure our customers received all the ARRA benefits they were entitled to,” said Mark S. Lynch, president and CEO of NYSEG and RG&E. “It’s a double win. Our customers and the environment gain since these upgraded plants will continue to generate low-cost, no-carbon energy for decades to come.”

“I back programs like this because I firmly believe our nation must create and harness the power of renewable energy if we are to stop the threat of climate change and provide affordable, reliable energy to our citizens,” said Congresswoman Louise Slaughter. “I supported RG&E's application for this grant because we need to continue to produce clean energy right here in Rochester.”

RG&E has invested more than $111 million in Station 5 improvements in recent years to boost the plant’s generating capacity and to make the plant more efficient. That work created approximately 393 temporary construction jobs and utilized equipment and materials from hundreds of suppliers in the region.

Under typical Genesee River flow conditions, Station 5 now can generate approximately 219 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year and power about 31,000 homes. In 2014, the RG&E and NYSEG fleet of nine hydroelectric plants generated nearly 400 million kilowatt-hours of clean hydropower – enough to power more than 55,000 homes across New York State.

MEDIA AVAILABLE: click here to see our RG&E Hydro Station 5 album on Flickr.

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Contact:  Dan Hucko
585.724.8825
Daniel_Hucko@RGE.com