On Tuesday, the New York State Energy Planning Board adopted the state energy plan, which sets a framework to meet energy needs through 2040. Board Chair and NYSERDA President and CEO Doreen Harris tells WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley the plan is a key element for setting state energy policy.
The Energy Plan is a comprehensive work product to plan for the broadest of needs of our state through 2040. And it really sets the stage for not only policy action, but also policy setting moving into the future as we advance the evolution of our energy system, certainly toward one that is cleaner, more affordable and more reliable, all at the same time.
During the board meeting this week, you called it an ambitious plan in an evolving environment. Energy markets, use and technology of all of our energy systems are very fast changing. So how does the plan project out over a decade and a half and how accurately can those projections be?
Of course, there's uncertainty that exists out 10-plus years as one is planning for an energy future, but obviously this year has been even more challenging due to, in specific, the real change in federal policy that has occurred since the Trump administration took office. So in many ways our plan's evolution from the draft, which was issued in July, and the final plan just this week reflects the real headwinds that we're seeing from the federal administration, both with respect to cost increases, but also a true assault on clean energy deployment that needed to be taken into account in the final plan. So planning always involves many scenarios for the future because of those uncertainties. In this instance the plan reflects, as I had said, a level of ambition that is quite notable. Certainly, Governor Hochul has made clear her prioritization of clean energy in the first instance, but also a plan that is achievable, that we know is reflective of the reality of the time in which we're living and the need to balance not just clean energy, but affordable, reliable and resilient energy that can support the very growth that our state is seeing from an economic development perspective at the same time.
Doreen Harris, you mentioned the Trump administration, which seems to be moving away from renewables and really supporting the fossil fuel industry. This latest New York State Energy Plan really turns towards renewables. Will there be problems implementing New York's plan if the federal government is not supporting some aspects of what's in our state plan?
Well, it remains true that New York is a leader in building out clean, affordable energy for our state even as we see this federal assault foundationally in many of the technologies that we're talking about. The plan needs to be clear-eyed about those challenges and I believe that it is. It sets forth a path that remains true, that we're prioritizing clean energy in the first instance. In fact, over this planning horizon, we show an increase of nearly 90% in the build out even between now and 2035 in renewable energy. It also though, notes importantly the value of diverse resources to address not only the growth of our energy system but also the value of diversity from a risk mitigation perspective as well. So that is where we look at other technologies. Of course, the deployment of renewables in the first instance, but other clean energy technologies like advanced nuclear technologies as well as solar, onshore wind and hydroelectric power. And then it does note that in order to preserve this reliable, affordable grid of the future that we will need to continue to rely on the fossil fuel systems that we have in place today and in some instances those systems will need to be repowered. So all that to say is it's a multi-variable exercise and one in which the clear motivation was clean energy. It remains clean energy balanced by other resources as well.
Doreen Harris, the plan also calls for modernizing the state's energy infrastructure, basically the power grid. Not just New York State, but all over the country, the energy grid is aging. This is a 15-year plan. Wouldn't it take longer than 15 years just for New York to upgrade its grid?
Well, it is absolutely true that our infrastructure is aging and it requires investments to continue to function and remain safe and reliable. We have one of the oldest grids in the country, and in fact, we looked to highlight the fact that even with no investments in new energy systems like renewable energy, we would still be spending $150 billion on the maintenance and perhaps renovation of that system. Because, for just what you were saying, we have literally a set of generators, over half of our installed capacity, turning at least 45 years old this year with many substantially older. So anyone would look at this and say we need to invest in the systems that we have. We are going to be over the coming decades to your point, not just within 15 years, but even decades beyond, we will be reaching a point in which much of our fossil fuel fire generation capacity will reach an age where it would have normally been retired. So we need to invest in that infrastructure to preserve not only the reliability of our grid but its broader functioning.
I'm curious how you react to some of the advocacy groups that are saying this plan is too conservative.
This was an area of significant stakeholder comment over the course of the year. I attended all of our hearings across the state as well as we received 15,000 public comments. And there was a balance. On the one hand, there was a strong imperative to prioritize the affordability of our grid and certainly of our energy system, something Governor Hochul has made clear is one of her top priorities. And on the other hand, of course, there were many who viewed our level of ambition as not ambitious enough or perhaps too ambitious. So all of this to say that we look at the situation we find ourselves in from a very objective lens and we build this scenario up. Our plan is built from sets of policies that are in place, the market development that we see, the level of deployment that can be reasonably achieved in these time frames. And it concludes that, yes, we will continue a very ambitious set of clean energy deployments across every form of clean energy, whether it be offshore wind or nuclear or solar projects. And it also notes, though, that in order to preserve this, these imperatives that I had laid out they need to be balanced with other resources at the same time. It's very pragmatic, that's what it is. And I think as time goes on, we are obviously hopeful that we'll see a future in which the federal administration allows us to exceed our expectations from our ambition and obviously we'd be well prepared to do so based on the progress we've made already. We've got a number of major infrastructure projects under construction across our state, two offshore wind projects, a very large transmission line moving hydroelectric power from Canada into New York and many, many solar, wind and other projects all under development and construction. So the point being, this plan really builds on that momentum, but reflects the growth according to the way the market and the policy context exists today.
When people are discussing the energy plan, some folks occasionally refer to the CLCPA, which is the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. How much does the energy plan move beyond what's in that act and does it duplicate anything in that act?
The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act is a law that was signed in 2019 and certainly the level of ambition within that law has, in part, brought us to the point where we are today. The task of the state energy plan is a bit of a different one in the sense that our job through the State Energy Planning Board is to look at the energy needs of our state and to take the policies, the programs, the market status, etc, and to build up, if you will, from a bottoms-up perspective, the resources that we believe can meet that need. So it certainly is, I'd say, informed by the Climate Act and the progress we've made. But our job as an energy planning board was to use, I'd say, more of a bottoms-up look at the progress that we will be making.
Doreen Harris, the energy plan that was just approved also addresses things on the economic realm, things like affordability. Why is the economic aspects of this, not just building the grid and getting renewables, but these other items like community revitalization, so important?
This is an economy-wide assessment of our energy needs as a state. So it is very much informed by, not just the large needs that would exist from new economic development projects from an energy perspective, but also what do our communities need and what do our homeowners need? And in fact, your point on the topic of affordability is a central one that is guiding, and has guided, the development of the plan. We included an affordability study as a key component of the plan for just that reason because we know that affordability is a central part of how you grow the economy. And at a household level, the plan recognizes that many New Yorkers face energy affordability challenges and some face energy insecurity. So we looked carefully at what we call the energy burden of New Yorkers. How much are people paying for energy as a proportion of their income? And ultimately includes an assessment, literally geography-by-geography, consumer-by-consumer, not only the ways in which we can create that affordable energy system of the future, but in fact, how many of the resources that the State offers, certainly with respect to clean energy deployment, can help to realize that outcome of an affordable energy system for all New Yorkers.
That was Doreen Harris, the President and CEO of NYSERDA, discussing the new state energy plan adopted this week.
