Our Climate Goals Must Become Our Construction Goals
By Sonam VelaniThree years ago, New York instituted into law one of the nation’s most ambitious climate action plans - shifting its energy grid from fossil fuels burning the planet to a suite of renewable resources that can power homes, businesses, and everyday life across the state by 2050.
As codified under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (the Climate Act), 70% of New York’s energy will come from renewable sources such as wind and solar by 2030. More than $29 billion of public and private investment has been committed for 100+ solar, wind, and hydro projects, as well as transmission infrastructure as a part of the New York Green Energy Transmission Superhighway. The Inflation Reduction Act will unlock billions more in federal funds over the next few years. Through these investments, we’ll generate 40 million megawatts of clean energy every year, eliminate 20 million tons of GHG emissions annually, and create thousands of new jobs.
So, how are we doing on our audacious goals?
Not great.
Last year, New York built a grand total of three wind and solar farms. Currently, six out of the 100+ under development actually have shovels in the ground. That’s enough energy to power a small city upstate. We have got a LONG WAYS TO GO, especially when compared to our peer states like Texas and California, that are eons beyond us in their renewable build out.
Oil rich Texas is also the undeniable leader in clean energy production in the US. While New York has several projects under development, we’ve got to get those shovels in the ground. Source: Canary Media and American Clean Power Association
To meet our ambitious goals in New York, we need to build 10x faster for the remainder of the 2020s than we did in the 2010s. This means 100x as much large-scale solar, 50x more battery storage capacity, and a brand new offshore wind industry.
As Anne Reynolds, Executive Director of the Alliance for Clean Energy NY put it at the organization’s annual conference in Albany earlier this month: “Our climate goals must now become construction goals.”
A new energy system with a lot more capacity
One point that complicates matters is the fact that New York basically has two separate electrical grids – one upstate that is primarily fueled by hydroelectric and nuclear plants, and the other around New York City, with 8.5 million people consuming the vast majority of power that is heavily reliant on fossil fuels. The power lines that currently connect the two grids are already suffering from a traffic jam, and thus we’ve got to build two huge transmission-line projects to help bridge that divide and create an ecosystem approach to power generation and distribution.
Pulling off this massive transition isn’t just about plans on paper - it’s #ClimateIndustrialism on steroids. It’s the ability of the state and local governments across New York to work hand-in-hand with climate tech entrepreneurs, local community groups, and workforce organizations to support a just and equitable transition.
How do we get there? It means FDNY changing regulations on the size and location of battery packs from local startups like Nine Dot Energy that are installed in NYC’s high density urban environments. It means NYSERDA providing $7 billion of financing and working with The Clean Fight startup accelerator to develop new technologies to decarbonize buildings across the state. The mantra: build, build, build.
The great trifecta of innovation, investment, and industrial policy has finally come together, from federal funds down to local action. From the partnership between Ithaca and Blocpower to decarbonize every single building to the new Climate Solutions Center at Governors Island in New York City, cities across the state are embracing their role in promoting the development, manufacturing, and uptake of climate technologies.
I’m signing off today from the Palm Springs Wind Farm in California, with 2,700 giant wind turbines rotating behind me and my wonderful host Rich. These wind turbines produce nearly 2 million MMBtu (600 million kWh) of energy every year. And they’ve been at it since 1982 - if they can do it, we can too!
by Sonam Velani