2,337 Days to Ensure New York's Renewable Future: Why We Must Double Down Now
By Marguerite Wells, Alliance for Clean Energy New York
Imagine what you could accomplish in the next 2,337 days. That is six years, five months and four days from now. Looking back, the same time period puts us at March 7, 2018. Life has changed just a bit since then. What is significant about that time period? 2,337 days from now puts us at Dec. 31, 2030, important because New York state law says we must source 70 percent of our power from renewable sources by 2030.
Recent media headlines, citing two state reports, correctly show that mandate is in jeopardy. The first was the Clean Energy Standard (CES) biennial review, filed by the Department of Public Service (DPS) staff and NYSERDA on July 1, assessing the progress on the 70x30 goal, which found that between terminated NYSERDA solar and wind contracts and increased load growth projections, NYS is currently tracking to fall short of the goal by a significant amount. The second report was from the NYS comptroller’s report reviewing DPS and NYSERDA’s actions on the same, with similar conclusions.
Despite numerous polls showing New Yorkers overwhelmingly support the clean energy transition in New York state, with strong support statewide for wind, offshore wind and solar development, many familiar voices who have fought to preserve fossil fuel usage in New York were quick to jump into the conversation saying the concerns raised in these reports mean we should abandon our mandates entirely.
The CES biennial report showed that based on current efforts, we would likely hit our 70 percent renewable target in 2033, not 2030, leading some, including Governor Hochul, to float the idea of delaying our mandates until that date.
It’s incredible to think that with 2,337 days remaining until the end of 2030, we would consider the radical action of abandoning or delaying our 70x30 actions. Perseverance is measured by how we overcome adversity. This summer’s reports are a wake-up call, not a death knell, and only become that if we make it so. We know how to build renewable energy projects in New York, with 9,000 MW of wind and solar already online. It’s getting done. Yes, there are barriers to success. Yes, the process is very far from perfect. But many of the barriers could be removed through direct action by Governor Hochul and her appointees. The major process changes needed are largely in place (building out the ORES office, reforming the NYISO interconnection process), and the CES review process affords us the opportunity to make a more durable Renewable Energy Credit (REC) contracting process going forward that will result in more projects getting constructed. Those are three legs of the stool which every energy project requires- interconnection, permits, and offtake.
Gov. Hochul has now called a conference in Syracuse in early September to discuss “Strategies to Accelerate Renewable Energy Deployment and Explore the Potential Role of Next Generation Clean Energy Technologies.” Nuclear, which is not a renewable energy resource, is one of the focus areas, ostensibly in an effort to serve the future large steady loads of the Micron factory, among others. But most of this focus is on achieving our second CLCPA goal of 100 percent emission-free energy by 2040, not the 70x30 goal, the looming, albeit 2,337 day-away deadline.
The CES review forecasts needing 23,000 MW of new contracted Tier 1 resources to fill projected load in 2033. Looking at the now-retired April 2024 NYISO queue, there were significantly more enough projects in the queue to cover the anticipated demand. Even if only half the proposed projects get completed, we still end up with 43,000 MW of onshore and offshore wind and solar projects already in some stage of development in the state, and 20,000 MW of storage projects to boot: well more than the state needs to fill even its most ambitious load growth scenarios. Our focus needs to be getting these projects, already in development, across the finish line. We have 2,337 days to do it. Each developer of these projects says that with some barriers removed by the state, it’s achievable.
The problem at hand in reaching 70 percent renewable generation by 2030 is not so much a technical one as it is a question of execution. As DoE’s Jigar Shah is fond of saying, ‘Deploy, deploy, deploy.” We don’t need rocket science; we need the governor to lay down the law with her state agencies to get with the program. Literally. The CLCPA calls on all state agencies to work together to achieve the goals set forth by the climate law. ACE NY and partner organizations are developing a short list of recommendations for the governor to accelerate renewable energy deployment in New York without requiring anything but her force of will to be effective.
Now is not the time to take the pressure off executing - now is the best time for NYS to double down and build the renewable projects which have already made millions of dollars of investments in NYS thus far. Now is when we have federal tax credits through the Inflation Reduction Act that can result in significant project cost savings. These expire in 2032. Now is when we have a climate change threat which the effects of fossil fuel exacerbates each day. Now is the time to build. 2,337 days and counting.
