NYISO sets hourly wind record of 2.309 GW, serves 14.4% of energy demand

The New York Independent System Operator set an hourly wind generation record of 2.309 GW on Dec. 16, serving 14.4% of energy demand, the grid operator has reported.

The record was set during the 11 pm ET hour, NYISO said. The generation output came from 30 wind power facilities. The previous record of 2.213 GW was reached Nov. 8 during the 1 pm hour.

"This is another example of the critical role wind generation continues to play in New York's transition to a zero-emission grid," Doreen Harris, president and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, said in a statement. "We will continue to see more of these records as clean energy from large-scale renewables will continue to propel New York forward as we build upon our thriving, green economy."

New York wind on the rise

For much of the past decade, new wind installations across New York had been low, so incremental wind generation year over year was pretty minimal, Doug Giuffre, S&P Global Commodity Insights executive director of global power and renewables, said Dec. 30. However, since mid-2021, more than 750 MW of new onshore wind was added and earlier this year the 130-MW South Fork Wind project was completed.

"As a result, wind generation has increased notably in New York," Giuffre said.

Also, 2023 was a bit of an anomaly for wind generation, which was down across the country for the first time in more than 20 years, he said, adding that part of the 2024 strength is a rebound off of weak 2023 wind output.

"Going forward, there are some fairly large onshore wind projects under construction in New York today and expected online in 2025 and 2026," Giuffre said. "These will continue to drive growth in wind generation in New York and records like this will be broken fairly consistently."

This trend can be seen in markets like the Southwest Power Pool and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which have the strongest wind capacity and output across the US.

"As the offshore wind projects begin to come online later in the decade, this will further drive growth in wind generation," Giuffre said about New York wind growth.

NYISO wind generation

Daily wind generation output Dec. 1-29 has averaged 21.165 GWh/day, which is an increase of 18.4% from the December 2023 average, according to NYISO data. Daily wind market share has averaged 5.4% of the total fuel mix so far this month, an increase from an average of 5% a year ago, and ranged from 0.3% Dec. 26 to 11.2% Dec. 17, according to the data.

So far this year, daily wind generation market share has averaged 4.7%, up compared to an average of 3.8% for all of 2023, marking the first time the grid operator's annual wind market share has surpassed 4%, according to NYISO data.

New York ranks 18th in the US for wind capacity at 2.915 GW by the end of third quarter 2024, which has grown 13.7% from a year earlier, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. However, the state makes up less than 2% of the nation's total wind capacity.

"We've seen an appreciable increase in the contribution of wind generation to the state's energy mix the last several years," NYISO President and CEO Rich Dewey said in a statement. "Wind has low operating costs, is clean and renewable, and can help reduce our reliance on conventional generation. We'll watch for this trend to continue as we conduct our future grid planning studies."