GOLDEN CRESCENT AND 1000 ISLAND NEWS

  According to the NYISO Real Time Fuel Mix dashboard chart that shows what fuels in what percentages are generating electricity in New York on this Dec 3 Wednesday morning, there is this breakdown. These numbers are typical for a winter morning in New York:   Natural gas – 55.53%   Hydroelectric – 21.64%   Nuclear – 19.52%   Wind – 1.96%   Solar and other renewables – 1.36%   (this percentage includes solar, landfill methane, storage batteries, and the burning of refuse and wood chips)   Which of the emissions free sources could be increased enough to make a significant difference?   Correct. Nuclear.

  Staying Focused   A bill pending with Governor Kathy Hochul  could shape how much New Yorkers pay for renewable energy for years to come  — but she only has a few days left to sign it and deliver the full savings promised, the bill’s supporters say.   Wind and solar developers have until Thursday, December 4 , to bid for state contracts under an expedited timeline Hochul  announced  in September. It may be the  last chance  for the companies to secure contracts in time to build projects with federal tax credits,  which they’ve relied on for decades  and which are set to  expire next year  under legislation signed by President Donald Trump.   When developers submit a bid, they have to include an estimate of how much a project will cost to build and operate over the long term, including land, materials, financing, and property taxes. The lower the cost, the more likely it is that the state will approve the bid — ...

  In the   report, the New York Independent System Operator said that “depending on demand growth and retirement patterns, the system may need several thousand megawatts of new dispatchable generation” over the next 10 years.  Dive Brief: New York’s grid is at an “inflection point” as the state deals with an aging generation fleet and increasing difficulty in deploying dispatchable resources amid rapid load growth,  foreshadowing “profound reliability challenges ,” the New York Independent System Operator said in its  2025 to 2034 Comprehensive Reliability Plan . The report released Friday doesn’t identify any actionable reliability needs, but “this outcome should not be mistaken for long-term system adequacy,” NYISO said, and suggested altering its procedures for identifying reliability needs. Earthjustice criticized the report in a Friday release, challenging its methodology and objecting to the recommended deployment of additional natural ...

  The electric grid is built for heat. The days when the system is under the most stress are typically humid summer evenings, when air conditioning is still going full blast, appliances are being turned on as commuters return home, and solar generation is fading, stretching the generation and distribution grid to its limits. But  as home heating and transportation goes increasingly electric, more of the country — even some of the chilliest areas — may start to struggle with demand that peaks in the winter. While summer demand peaks are challenging, there’s at least a vision for how to deal with them without generating excessive greenhouse gas emissions — namely battery storage, which essentially holds excess solar power generated in the afternoon in reserve for the evening. In states with lots of renewables on the grid already, like California and Texas, storage has been helping  smooth out and avoid reliability issues  on peak demand days. The winter challenge is th...

  ALBANY — New York's sweeping 2019 Climate Act set strict mandates for shifting away from fossil fuels to more "clean energy" sources. But with progress stagnating and consumers bearing more costs, it's increasingly harder to ignore the gap between policy ambition and the state's ability to deliver.  The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act established into law a series of priority requirements: Greenhouse gas emissions in the state need to be reduced 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050 relative to 1990 levels. The state’s electric system should use 70% renewable power by 2030, and be 100% clean energy in 2040.   The “beauty and the beast” of the Climate Act is that  while it sets strict mandates, it does not lay out how to meet them , said Vincent M. Nolette, who maintains a tracker of the state’s progress on climate action for Columbia Law School. A year after the legislation passed, the state formed the Climate Action Council, whose 22 members i...

  The politically-driven effort to force a transition from traditional power to wind, solar and battery has produced an energy crisis in blue America. Progressive-led states are beset by increasing electricity rates and declining reliability. Although their leaders uniformly blame President Trump, the costs have become so high that some on the left are finally scaling back these destructive policies. But it’s no guarantee sobriety will win the day. New leftwing awareness of energy realities is apparent coast to coast. Former New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill won the state’s governorship this month in part by  pledging  to deal with high electricity costs. As a member of Congress Ms. Sherrill reliably voted for the energy-transition agenda, although on the campaign trail she blamed Trump policies for her state’s problems. Out West, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is  moderating  some of his positions in anticipation of a 2028 presidential run from a...