The State Energy Planning Board unanimously approved New York\u2019s 15-year energy plan Tuesday, laying out a set of recommendations which seek to set the stage for the state\u2019s energy-related planning through 2040.<\/p>\n
The plan acknowledges the significant shifts in circumstances, politics, and fiscal reality which have shaped the conversation around energy since New York\u2019s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act was passed back in 2019, and works to put a face on Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s recent embrace of an all of the above approach to energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re moving forward on multiple fronts and that\u2019s really what energy planning is all about,\u201d Doreen Harris, president of the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency and chair of the State Energy Planning Board, told Spectrum News 1 in an interview.<\/p>\n
The plan\u2019s recommendations are based on an assessment which took more than a year to complete, evaluating current systems and working to determine future energy needs over the next decade and a half.<\/p>\n
The outcome, the board said, is a plan which seeks to achieve \u201caffordable, abundant, reliable, and clean energy while supporting economic development, equity, and a healthy environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid an evaporation of federal support, Harris said the plan acknowledges that while the state\u2019s objective of reducing emissions and moving toward renewable energy remains alive, it is clear it will require a diverse portfolio of resources to support that shift without compromising reliability.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course our commitment to advanced nuclear is a great example of it, but in addition we\u2019ve concluded that we will need to continue to rely on the fossil fuel assets that we have in place in our state through that planning period,\u201d she said, acknowledging that fossil fuels must remain part of the picture through at least 2040.<\/p>\n
Options for nuclear power within the plan build off of the announcement this summer that Gov. Hochul ordered the development of a new nuclear energy facility which could produce no less than one gigawatt of electricity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ran a number of scenarios including a two gigawatt and a three gigawatt version, both of which revealed not only the value of nuclear technologies in complementing other resources, but also the ways in which in a zero emission future it can be a least-cost alternative so it certainly demonstrates that we can do more with nuclear,\u201d Harris said, adding that the plan’s 15-year outlook is in place in part because such development takes time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She also pointed to success in New York\u2019s distributed solar program as a bright spot in the state\u2019s progress. That program is exceeding expectations.<\/p>\n
With that said, goals are slipping. The draft plan over the summer laid out that the all important benchmark of reducing emissions by 40% by 2030 wouldn\u2019t be reached until 2036 and only if the state takes additional policy action.<\/p>\n
After revisions, that goal sat at 2037 or 2038.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlongside that planning, we\u2019ve concluded via our planning that those goals are going to be delayed in their achievement, but it doesn\u2019t mean that we aren\u2019t solving for an ambitious set of energy policies,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n
The plan ran multiple scenarios including those which anticipated the state advancing additional climate policy. Harris said that could involved new laws and initiatives or simply re-upping existing ones.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does involve a level of ambition that would necessarily expand some of the policies we have on the books, but also extend them,\u201d she said. \u201cWe might be looking at how we extend our distributed solar objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Climate groups like Earthjustice were critical of the plan Tuesday, New York Policy Advocate Liz Moran accusing the board of ignoring the state\u2019s climate law.<\/p>\n
“The State Energy Plan represents a serious lack of leadership at a critical moment for New York’s affordable and clean energy future,\u201d she said. \u201cDespite clear mandates under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), the plan disregards the Scoping Plan’s recommendations and undermines the state’s own climate commitments. New York must invest boldly in renewable energy now to lower long-term costs, protect public health, and strengthen its economy. Instead, this plan locks New Yorkers into continued fossil fuel dependence and delays the transition to clean energy, an approach that will drive up costs, harm communities, and jeopardize the state’s climate mandates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Republicans in the state Legislature who have long railed against the CLCPA offered measured praise, but questioned how the state can release such a plan which acknowledges challenges in meeting the CLCPA\u2019s ambitious and expensive objectives without structural changes to the climate law or a legislative rolling back of mandates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI give them credit \u2014 they do talk about an all of the above approach and it should be all the above approach and it should be an all of the above approach,\u201d said state Assemblyman Phil Palmesano. \u201cBut the policies need to match the words.”<\/p>\n
Palmesano questioned if the energy plan should trigger a pause in the CLCPA because of concerns over reliability. Republican state Sen. Jake Ashby went a step further, criticizing the state for beating around the bush in acknowledging that the CLCPA is out of reach and called for full-on repeal and bipartisan from-the-ground-up rebuild.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that the state has an official energy plan, it\u2019s just impossible to justify continuing to have a climate and energy law on the books that we are not following, will not follow and must not follow,\u201d he said. \u201cLet\u2019s eliminate one of the last vestiges of Andrew Cuomo\u2019s failed tenure and start fresh on a bipartisan energy law that reduces emissions by embracing nuclear, expanding hydropower and making our natural gas facilities more efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n
While there may be cracks in the framework of the CLCPA, Harris defended it as the mechanism by which what has been accomplished is possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plan as drafted is very ambitions,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s noting that in many instances that law alone allowed us to advance with a level of ambition that is now coming to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The State Energy Planning Board unanimously approved New York\u2019s 15-year energy plan Tuesday, laying out a set of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[11638,54436,17045,4253,192,176141,21335,3,54435,111,79,452,13309],"class_list":["post-354659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-app-local-state-politics","tag-app-ny-state-of-politics","tag-central-ny","tag-climate-change","tag-environment","tag-jack-arpey","tag-new-york-state","tag-news","tag-ny-state-of-politics","tag-politics","tag-science","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}