New York's ability to achieve its ambitious 2030 clean energy goal was facing skepticism when, on June 23, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul directed the state's public power utility to develop and build at least one advanced nuclear plant upstate.
Adam Barsky, the New York Power Authority (NYPA) vice president and CFO, said his phone began ringing almost right away.
"Since the announcement, I've felt like somebody who hit the lottery [jackpot]," Barsky told the Reuters Global Energy Transition conference in New York City on June 25. "I'm getting calls from people I haven't heard from in years — engineering consultants, financing, people are just swarming. They want to be part of it."
NYPA will likely try to develop at least 4 GW of nuclear capacity over the next decade in partnership with private-sector companies, Barsky said.
Firm, carbon-free resource
The prospect of a nuclear build-out may give NYPA and New York's other electric utilities a little breathing room as they juggle the state's clean energy goals with grid expansion projects and growing demand from manufacturing plants, datacenters and electrification.
More nuclear capacity would provide a firm carbon-free source of electricity needed to balance intermittent renewable resources on the grid, advocates for the technology say.
A 2024 draft state report estimated that New York would reach its target of 70% carbon-free energy in 2033, three years later than what state law requires. Supply chain problems and inflationary pressures have slowed deployment of renewables, the report found.
Adding to these challenges, Congress is planning to phase out federal production and investment tax credits for solar and wind projects. These policy changes are expected to significantly slow investments in renewables nationwide.
Incentives for nuclear development, on the other hand, have so far so far been left intact in the 2026 reconciliation bill, and President Donald Trump weighed in with two executive orders in May seeking to speed up deployment of nuclear reactors.
In addition to tax breaks and support from the US Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office, there is also talk about setting up a federal cost overrun risk insurance program that can boost confidence in nuclear plant investments, Barsky noted.
"So there's a lot going on there … and I think that's going to give us some real hope for meeting those [clean energy] goals in the future," the NYPA executive said.
Cost questions
The Sierra Club has objected to these kinds of investments, saying that New Yorkers are already spending billions on nuclear waste cleanup and a plant that no longer operates. Long Island ratepayers are still on the hook for $6 billion for the Shoreham Nuclear plant that shut down in 1989 due to safety concerns, the group said.
But several communities with retired coal plant properties have already said they are interested in hosting an advanced nuclear plant. NYPA plans to investigate those sites as it embarks on its multiyear nuclear program.
Former coal plant sites have the advantage of already being connected to the grid and have access to water for cooling, which reduces the need for upgrades.
Even so, the earliest a new reactor would begin to produce energy would be after 2030 because of the time it takes to permit, license and staff a new plant, Barsky said in an interview.
New York is already providing financial support to Constellation Energy Corp. to pursue early site permitting for a new project at its 1,920-MW Nine Mile Point Clean Energy Center. Any NYPA investments in new capacity must be structured to share risks with state and federal agencies and could take advantage of corporate offtakes to protect ratepayers, Barsky said.
