6.9.23 - NY’s fossil fuel plants may need to stick around for years, power grid overseer says
'T he state’s vow to clean
the air in environmental justice communities by shuttering fossil
fuel-generated power plants linked to asthma and other negative health outcomes
is running into an unlikely foe – clean energy.
Surging amounts of power needed to electrify everything from cars to heating systems is pushing New York’s energy grid to its outer limits, particularly in New York City, according to a new report by the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO).
The city is geographically isolated from cleaner sources of energy – solar, wind, hydro and nuclear – that exist in upstate New York and the transmission network to send that power down to the city doesn’t exist yet.
On top of that, power plants that use natural gas are retiring at a faster pace than renewables like solar and wind power are coming onto the grid, the NYISO report says.
That means natural gas peaker plants in the city, which take their name from the periods they run the most, will need to stay open past their expiration dates so the downstate region doesn’t run the risk of rolling brownouts.
“It seems likely that some component of those peakers that are targeted for retirement would need to stay on,” NYISO president Rich Dewey said during a press briefing Wednesday following the non-profit’s release of its annual “Power Trends” report. '
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