Advocacy group urges power authority to build renewable energy sources

 ALBANY — A grassroots coalition that advocate for more publicly operated renewable energy sources is calling on the New York Power Authority to move forward with building zero-emission power sources in New York City.

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The Public Power New York coalition, which includes nonprofits and labor organizations, contends the New York Power Authority needs to get moving on its mandate under the 2023 Build Public Renewables Act that authorized it to build and operate energy sources that would keep the state on a path to meeting renewable energy goals.

 

That legislation also called for the power authority to begin phasing out a handful of fossil fuel driven “peaker” power plants that it operates in the New York City area.

 

“The transition to renewables means that we need a massive amount of upgrades to transmission lines coming from upstate to downstate, because the vast majority of renewable energy is sited upstate,” said Michael Paulson, associate director of Sane Energy Project and an organizer with Public Power New York. “This is one major reason why it would be hugely advantageous for NYPA to build renewables in the city; that is close to where the demand is. … By building renewables close to the demand, we will be saving ratepayers quite a bit of money over the long run.”

 

But energy industry stakeholders have asserted that the power authority should not expand its foothold in that sector, which is dominated by private companies, and instead secure long-term power purchase agreements that are public-private agreements.

 

Gavin J. Donohue, CEO and president of the Independent Power Producers of New York, wrote a letter last year to Justin E. Driscoll, the authority’s  president and CEO, recommending the organization “focus on competitively procuring renewables and energy storage instead of developing and owning those resources.”

Donohue, whose group was asked by the power authority to weigh in on the implementation of the renewables act, suggested the authority issue requests for proposals in partnership with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, which is a lead agency in helping New York achieve mandates set by the 2019 climate act. He also suggested the power authority should continue to focus on building new transmissions line to provide renewable energy from where it’s generated to the communities that need it.

 

The power authority has 17 generation facilities and 1,550 miles of high-voltage transmission lines. Its government customers include New York City, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New York City Housing Authority, state agencies and local governments. 

 

Paulson said that he believes profit margins are a reason that private companies have not been eager to build more renewable energy sources, especially as the state is lagging in the green energy mandates that many observers have said are unattainable.

 

“The private sector has not done this,” Paulson said. “There’s certainly a pathway for them to do it, and my understanding is that they don’t see enough profit to satisfy shareholders, and this is sort of the basic logic behind the Build Public Renewables Act and tasking the New York Power Authority with taking the lead.”

Public Power New York said it will be monitoring whether Gov. Kathy Hochul addresses the goals of the renewables act in her State of the State address that will take place later this month.

 

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, at the end of 2023 there were over 150 gigawatts of wind power and 137 gigawatts of solar power being produced in the U.S.

 

In November, the Business Council of New York State urged Hochul to conduct a “deep analysis” of the state’s future energy needs and supplies, including options for nuclear power plants, as the initial mandates of the 2019 Climate Act are nearing and serious concerns have been raised about the ability to meet those goals.

The outreach from the Business Council followed state officials unveiling at an energy summit in September that nuclear reactors and similar technology may be an integral part of New York’s clean energy goals. The plan was a central topic at Syracuse summit that was convened last summer by Hochul’s administration as the state struggles to meet the mandates of the 2019 Climate Act.

 

Those mandates include having 70% renewable electricity sources by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2040 — goals that many business leaders and experts familiar with power production have long cautioned are unattainable.

 

The summit lacked having a panelist devoted to a topic that many industry stakeholders and observers have said needs to be addressed: cost. Although the enormous price tag for establishing nuclear power options has been discussed, those stakeholders said regulators and other state officials have declined for years to calculate what would be the potential costs for consumers and businesses of a transition to zero-emission technologies.

 

Doreen M. Harris, president and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, said last year that advanced nuclear technologies are “timely to investigate… in large part because not only of the market shifts that we’ve seen in bringing these technologies to commercialization, but also in the robust support by the federal government, and I want to say, bipartisan support from the federal government in considering these assets.”

 

Some environmental groups have pushed back on the nuclear option or any delays of the Climate Act mandates, noting that the development of those plants could take years beyond the dates set for the lower- and zero-emission goals.

 

In July, the state comptroller’s office issued an audit that found New York’s Public Service Commission relied on outdated data and made miscalculations about the state’s ability to reach the Climate Act’s energy mandates, including failing to develop a backup plan for not meeting those goals.

 

Some energy experts contend the state, especially upstate, will face a power shortfall by 2032 that could be exacerbated with expanding chip fab plants that require high volumes of power. Part of the solution, they have said, may be to tap other zero-emission power sources beyond wind and solar projects, which are not expected to meet the demands. Those options could include maintaining or building new nuclear sources, although that plan would be extremely costly and may face permitting challenges at the state and federal levels.

 

Power industry experts over the past year have said at the time the 2019 legislation was passed, there was no analysis done on what was achievable and at what cost, and no real plan for pulling away from a power grid that’s more than 70 years old. While renewable energy sources power much of upstate, more than 85 percent of electricity being supplied to New York City and Long Island is from gas and oil.

 

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Brendan J. Lyons

Managing Editor

Brendan J. Lyons is a managing editor for the Times Union overseeing the Capitol Bureau and investigations. Lyons joined the Times Union in 1998 as a crime reporter before being assigned to the investigations team. He became editor of the investigations team in 2013 and began overseeing the Capitol Bureau in 2017. You can reach him at blyons@timesunion.com or 518-454-5547.