Danskammer Energy bankruptcy puts Newburgh power plant back in focus
Danskammer’s bankruptcy left NYISO with an $11.82 million claim and Orange County with $764,039 in unpaid property taxes tied to the Newburgh plant.
Danskammer Energy’s Chapter 11 filing has pushed the Hudson River power plant back into the center of Orange County’s industrial and energy planning debate, with NYISO listed as the largest unsecured creditor at $11.82 million and Orange County owed $764,039 in property taxes.
Danskammer HoldCo LLC and three affiliates filed for bankruptcy protection on June 10 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, case no. 26-10950. A docket notice filed June 26 set the 341 meeting of creditors for July 24 at 1 p.m., a procedural milestone that will bring creditors into the case as the company tries to steady a plant that has long mattered to the Town of Newburgh, even when it ran only during periods of peak demand.
The filing lands on top of a complicated operating and planning backdrop. Danskammer filed a deactivation notice with NYISO in December 2025, targeting a January 14, 2027 closing date, but the grid operator required the plant to stay available through at least August 2026 because of reliability concerns. NYISO’s 2026 first-quarter Short-Term Assessment of Reliability treated the deactivation of Danskammer units 1 through 4 as a reliability assumption over the January 15, 2026, through January 15, 2031, study period. Its Summer 2026 Capacity Assessment also assumed Danskammer would be available at the start of summer while Champlain Hudson Power Express was not yet providing capacity.
Thomas Gray, Danskammer’s president and chief financial officer, said in the filing that changes to NYISO capacity rules would cut into the plant’s revenue and that the completion of CHPE would likely push power prices lower, making continued operation less viable. The bankruptcy list reflected a strained capital structure, with at least 200 creditors and only five owed more than $100,000.
The Newburgh site has already moved through several eras of ownership and reinvestment. Central Hudson Gas & Electric built the plant in the 1950s, Dynegy bought it in 2001, and Superstorm Sandy left it heavily damaged before Danskammer acquired it in 2018. That history matters now because the property remains one of the Lower Hudson Valley’s most consequential industrial parcels, sitting on the riverfront at a time when the region is still balancing grid reliability, industrial redevelopment and the slow buildout of new transmission and generation.
NYISO describes its mission as ensuring power system reliability and competitive markets for New York’s clean energy future, and its Power Trends 2026 release, issued June 9, said the state still needs new energy development powered by competitive markets. For Danskammer, the bankruptcy does not just settle creditor claims. It also forces a harder question about whether the Newburgh site is more likely to remain an operating power asset, or become a redevelopment opportunity tied to the next phase of the region’s energy system.
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