NYPA approves low-cost hydropower allocation for Shipman Printing

Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, March 6, 2008

The New York Power Authority Board of Trustees Tuesday approved a low-cost hydropower allocation to create five new jobs at a printing service company in Wheatfield.

Shipman Printing Industries, which is investing $900,000 to expand and upgrade its product line, will receive an allocation of 130 kilowatts of hydropower from NYPA’s Niagara Power Project. The company currently employs 35 people.

The allocation will come from a block of power known as Replacement Power, one of two large portions of power from the Niagara project reserved for Western New York businesses under New York state law. The other block is referred to as Expansion Power, and together they provide some of the lowest cost electricity in the country for businesses, linked to more than 45,000 jobs.

The additional power will enable Shipman Printing to upgrade its existing commercial press with an ultraviolet drying system, a favorite among printers. Shipman will also replace its existing web press with a new model, to greatly enhance the production efficiency and the quality of the company’s products.

The Western New York Advisory Group (WNYAG), consisting of the Power Authority, National Grid, Empire State Development Corp., the Buffalo Niagara Enterprise and the Niagara County Center for Economic Development, recommended the allocation to Shipman.

The company is the latest of 92 firms to be allotted hydropower since the formation of the WNYAG in late 2003 to help identify qualified companies for available industrial power from the Niagara project. Over the four-year span, the NYPA trustees have approved allocations totaling more than 126 megawatts (1 megawatt equals 1,000 kw), in return for commitments of approximately 5,000 new jobs.