Existing Solely for the Public's Benefit
Gil Quiniones is President and Chief Executive Officer, New York Power Authority.
PUF's Steve Mitnick: What's happening on the innovation front at NYPA?
Gil Quiniones: If you really look at history, NYPA has always pursued innovation. It started in the '50s, when the company built the first large hydroelectric plant, the first large-scale renewable unit in New York: the St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project, and then the Niagara Power Project.
NYPA also built a 765kV line connecting the U.S. to Canada. We're the only utility that owns and operates a 765kV line here in the states. We've always been innovative. Today the innovation really is centered around the customer and around the edge of the grid.
We've noticed that even earlier on, five or six years ago, our team saw that this utility landscape was changing. From the old grid where you have big power plants, transmission, distribution, and customers, a one-way flow, to a more integrated bi-directional grid. With customers at the edge being able to produce some of their power, whether it's from solar or from other sources, and inject power back into the grid.
It was a change that we saw in the grid, and something that we adapted. We told ourselves, "We need to be ahead of this change. We need to create value and provide value to our customers to remain relevant."