New York climate law implementation plan nears completion with focus on reliability

The New York State Climate Action Council is working to finalize a plan for meeting the state's ambitious climate law targets, with a focus on including the most recent projections for the volume of zero-emissions dispatchable resources needed, according to a Nov. 21 meeting.

"This important plan will guide us into 2023 and beyond," Basil Seggos, commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and co-chairman of the Climate Action Council, said during the meeting that was held in person in Albany and webcast.

The 22-member committee is preparing a scoping plan by Jan. 1 for meeting the state's expansive climate goals. The DEC is then scheduled to prepare regulations in 2024 to enforce the measures developed in the plan.

The state's landmark climate law, called the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, mandates an economy-wide 85% greenhouse gas emissions reduction from 1990 levels by 2050, 100% zero-emission electricity by 2040, 70% renewable electricity by 2030, 9,000 MW of offshore wind capacity by 2035, 3,000 MW of energy storage capacity by 2030, 6,000 MW of solar power capacity by 2025 and a carbon emissions reduction of 22 million mt through energy efficiency and electrification.

The New York Independent System operator recently cautioned that the CLCPA target of achieving a fully emissions-free electricity grid by 2040 will not be possible without incorporating dozens of gigawatts of "dispatchable emission-free resources" to provide reliable baseload power as fossil fuel-fired capacity is retired in favor of intermittent renewables.

However, such technologies—which NYISO suggested could include hydrogen, small modular nuclear reactors, and renewable natural gas, among others—remain commercially unproven.

The CAC has recommended updating the language in the draft scoping plan to "reflect a greater focus on the need for zero-emissions, dispatchable generation resources and include the most recent projections of capacity need for these resources by 2040," according to a presentation given during the meeting.

Seeking to address this matter, the trade association Independent Power Producers of New York, the New York State AFL-CIO, and the New York State Building and Construction Trades Council filed a joint petition with the New York State Public Service Commission in 2021 that the commission hasn't yet taken up.

To assist in meeting the CLCPA's target of having the statewide electrical demand system be zero emissions by 2040, the commission should establish a competitive program to encourage private sector investment in a minimum of 1 GW of zero-emissions energy systems that would begin commercial operation by 2030, the groups said in the petition.

Additional feedback

The committee members also recommended expanding the language around how microgrids can be further explored as opportunities for decarbonization. The daft scoping plan says that over the next 10 years, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority should work with utilities and campuses to enable the development of microgrids and district clean energy systems.

Microgrids should also be qualified as zero emissions to clarify they should not be built using fossil fuel resources, some committee members recommended.

Regarding the electrification of buildings, there remains some disagreement over the role of hydrogen, with some arguing green hydrogen could be blended with natural gas and used for home heating and others arguing hydrogen should only be used for long-duration energy storage.

"It would be a bad idea to do home heating with hydrogen where you lose about 55% of the energy," Bob Howarth, professor of ecology and environmental biology at Cornell University, said.

The same unit of renewable power can produce 10 times more power by using it for a ground-source heat pump than converting it to hydrogen, he said.

"Renewable energy will be reliable but there may be times it will not be available or available in abundance and that is why we talk about the use of hydrogen in that context," said Rory Christian, CEO and chairman of the New York State Public Service Commission.

The CAC will meet Dec. 5 to discuss any final revisions to the scoping plan with a final vote on the plan scheduled for Dec. 19.