New York’s energy plan embraces Hochul’s ‘all of the above’ strategy

 ALBANY — A more than 1,000-page state Energy Plan finalized by state officials on Tuesday included a slogan that has become a new catchphrase on how many public officials believe New York can meet its future electricity needs: “All of the above.”

 

It’s a phrase used often by Gov. Kathy Hochul to describe her focus on developing a wide range of power sources to supply rising demand from home electrification, electric vehicles, emerging large data centers and manufacturing plants that are all entering the grid.
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Numerous members of the state Energy Planning Board, a 14-member panel of agency heads, grid experts and legislative leaders, also mentioned their commitment to an “all-of-the-above approach” as they voted for the plan.
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“It is my opinion, and an opinion echoed in the plan, that an all-of-the-above energy approach isn’t simply a choice, it’s our reality,” said Rory M. Christian, chair and CEO of the Public Service Commission.
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The unanimously approved state Energy Plan details New York’s progress toward greenhouse gas reduction targets and charts a path to meet those mandates over the next 15 years.
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Greenhouse gas emissions in New York were 14% lower in 2023 than in 1990. The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, passed by the state Legislature in 2019, requires a 40% reduction by 2030. That mandate won’t be met until at least 2037, according to the plan.
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The state Energy Plan “takes into account the realities of the day, the realities of an assault by the federal government, certainly, but also the realities around the opportunity to advance technologies like advanced nuclear that are part right of a diverse clean and affordable energy system,” said Doreen M. Harris, president and CEO of New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Harris also chaired the Energy Planning Board.
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More than 80,000 jobs are projected to be added in the energy sector during the next 15 years under the plan. Air quality improvements may reduce asthma flare-ups and emergency room visits.
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While business leaders and industry groups applauded the plan, they called on the state to take serious action to advance an all-of-the-above approach rather than just talk about it.
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“All of the above is a great slogan, but it’s not written into the law,” said Justin Wilcox, executive director of Upstate United, an organization advocating for upstate New York taxpayers and businesses.
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The Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups criticized the plan for failing to advance policies they view as imperative to both affordability and the clean energy mandates of the Climate Law. For example, “Cap and invest,” which puts a price on carbon and caps how much can be emitted, is not explicitly recommended in the plan.
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“The state should continue to evaluate the role of market-based policy mechanisms,” the plan reads, alluding to the need to examine the costs and benefits of cap and invest.
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​The energy blueprint is distinctive from the Scoping Plan, a 2022 policy framework that guides state agencies in implementing the Climate Law.
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“The cap-and-invest program meets the need for assured emission reductions and allows for investments in technologies that help achieve emissions reductions and reduce the overall cost of this program,” the scoping plan said.
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“Despite clear mandates under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, the plan disregards the Scoping Plan’s recommendations and undermines the state’s own climate commitments,” said Liz Moran, New York policy advocate at Earthjustice, an environmental advocacy group.
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The whiplash between the Scoping Plan and the new State Energy Plan is creating deep uncertainty about New York’s true direction.
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“The regulatory environment is about as clear as mud,” Wilcox said. “When you’re spending millions of dollars, and in some cases, hundreds of millions of dollars, you want some predictability in terms of the regulatory environment; New York is not offering that.”
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In October, a state Supreme Court justice in Ulster County directed the state to implement cap and invest to comply with the Climate Law. Hochul has given no indication she’s willing to do so, and the state is appealing the ruling.
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The timing of the state Energy Plan is particularly prescient. In July, President Donald J. Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which terminates tax incentives for renewable energy development in 2027. The plan estimates the lost incentives amount to around $19 billion.
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“My fear is that state decision-makers are looking at the scale of the federal cuts, and simply throwing up their hands,” said Noah Ginsburg, executive director of New York Solar Energy Industries Association. “My hope is that the federal phaseout of the (investment tax credit) instead motivates our leaders to put up their fists and fight for affordable clean power and good jobs.”
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Renewable energy production could still increase by almost 90% between this year and 2035, according to the plan.
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The plan prioritizes Hochul’s “all-of-the-above” energy strategy by explicitly supporting additional nuclear capacity, investment in natural gas production, and emerging clean energy technologies.
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“It is essential that the natural gas system remains safe, reliable, and affordable for customers,” the plan reads. The state is projected to use up to 24% less gas in 2040 than today, according to the plan.
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The commitment to gas is frustrating building electrification advocates who want accelerated action towards divestment from fossil fuel pipelines.
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“The administration doubled down on systematic delays by advancing an all-of-the-above plan that locks the state into expensive fossil fuel systems for decades,” said Michael Hernandez, New York policy director for Rewiring America.
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Whether nuclear can be developed quickly enough to address grid reliability concerns and affordably is an open question. Even though nuclear energy has existed in New York and across the country for decades, there’s little recent precedent for its development. Two nuclear reactors that recently went online in Georgia were more than $15 billion over budget and late. Nuclear energy could be more than four times more expensive to develop than a natural gas plant or solar facility, according to a New York State Energy Research and Development Authority analysis.
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By 2040, the plan projects roughly 15 gigawatts of clean energy capacity, potentially supplied by technologies such as green hydrogen, carbon capture, or renewable natural gas. Those technologies improve the current operations of the state’s fossil fuel fleet. For example, carbon capture catches a fossil fuel plant’s carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere and puts them deep underground. Renewable natural gas is produced by capturing methane from naturally decomposing sources, including rotting food.
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New York needs to focus on “retooling existing power plants with carbon capture and (examine) every option before banning anything,” said state Sen. Mario R. Mattera, a Smithtown Republican.
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If the state wants aging gas plants to repower with modern, carbon-neutral technology, it needs to send strong signals that such investments are welcome.
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“Strong statements of an ‘all-of-the-above’ strategy are important; however, it is even more critical to ensure that market signals and regulatory paradigms match that sentiment in attracting further investment,” said Gavin Donohue, president and CEO of the Independent Power Producers of New York.

 

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