The “Future Energy Economic Summit” convened by New York State over the last two days proposed to “discuss the role of next generation clean energy technologies and strategies to accelerate renewable energy deployment while collectively supporting economic development” in the state. The Public Power Observatory questions whether this summit will significantly advance the state’s urgent energy transition and job development needs.
It is important to note the context for the “Future Energy Economic Summit”: New York’s energy transition is flagging. While the early period of Hochul’s administration was characterized by significant market enthusiasm for renewable energy, deployment has fallen far short of initial hopes. Private power producers have faced a series of headwinds in recent years such as rising inflation and interest rates, an environment that has soured investors on renewables. Governor Kathy Hochul has in fact added less than 1 percent renewable energy to the grid since the beginning of her administration. A July 2024 audit by the New York State Comptroller found “inadequate planning, monitoring and assessment of risks and challenges in the PSC’s efforts to help the state meet the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act’s (Climate Act) targets” of 70% renewable energy by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2040. For example, 28 of the 230 large-scale renewable projects awarded contracts within the Climate Act program have been cancelled in the period from 2005 to 2023, and only 30% of the remaining 202 projects have been completed.
It is clear that New York State needs to accelerate its deployment of existing renewable energy. The Public Power Observatory questions whether the “Future Energy Economic Summit” is going to help the state reach its legally mandated goals. While the summit announcement underlines the state’s commitment to “scaling up and accelerating renewable energy such as offshore wind, hydropower, solar, and onshore wind statewide” – without noting the dramatic and alarming shortfall in deployment of such resources – it spends far more time discussing “next generation geothermal, advanced nuclear, clean hydrogen, long duration energy storage.” Of this list of “emerging technologies,” the summit announcement devotes the most space to “the development of a blueprint to advance issues and considerations for the deployment of advanced nuclear power generation.”
Governor Hochul’s administration is chasing a technology that has proven to be unviable economically. Over the last decade and a half, nuclear energy has increased in cost the more it has been deployed. By contrast, wind and solar got a lot cheaper the more they were deployed. This trend isn’t going to reverse. There are a variety of reasons for this but the basic dynamic, one proven through research on 16,000 megaprojects around the world by Professors Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner, is that solar and wind generation have very low construction risks and come in on time and on budget, while nuclear power has high construction risks and comes in over budget and time. In short, very little nuclear is being built around the world precisely because it is uncompetitive with wind and solar.
What is true for nuclear is even more true for some of the other technologies such as hydrogen that are slated to be discussed at the “Future Energy Economic Summit.” Blue hydrogen and related carbon capture and storage projects currently fail consistently, and overspend or underperform, according to recent studies. Moreover, they rely on fossil fuels and can lead to a myriad of environmental harms, including a rise in greenhouse gases and air pollution. They are essentially public subsidies for the fossil fuel industry at a time when climate science conclusively shows that this industry needs to be shut down. It is a scandal that our elected leaders continued to fork over our hard-earned money to the oiligarchs: a recent report by Oil Change International revealed that the US has spent $12 billion in taxpayer money in direct subsidies on unproven climate solutions technologies that risk further delaying the transition away from fossil fuels.
But there is another way forward. The Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA) – which New York legislators passed and Governor Hochul signed – provides a solution to precisely the current crisis. BPRA mandates the public New York Power Authority to build out renewable energy such as wind and solar to meet the requirements of the Climate Act. As a recent white paper has shown, NYPA is uniquely well situated to anchor New York’s energy transition. It has long experience generating clean power for the state, it has successfully built significant amounts of transmission in the state, and, through its Economic Development funds, NYPA can coordinate renewable energy supply chains in the state, bringing a wide variety of economic activity and jobs to New York.
Alas, thus far there is scant indication that NYPA will follow its mandated role to build public renewables and help the state meet is 70% clean power by 2030 goals. Renewable energy is currently treated as a siloed project rather than the all-hands-on-deck imperative that it needs to be at the agency. NYPA has not indicated that it will use its economic development funds, bonding authority, transmission and generation coordination, and intergovernmental connections to accelerate the transition.
In addition, a key barrier to speeding up deployment is the state’s siting process. In the current model, developers search for sites that will be profitable for them and then seek deals with local jurisdictions with public input too often occurring after that fact. This is wrongheaded for multiple reasons. First off, most sites are not chosen to enhance the resilience of the grid or the communities, they are chosen for developer profitability. This is unacceptable and negligent and local utilities too are complicit. Second, too often developers work behind the scenes, and communities are caught off guard when projects are announced with no forewarning. Even when sites are appropriate, this can lead to understandable distrust.
We at the Public Power Observatory are calling for a complete overhaul of this process. The state and local jurisdictions must create a process whereby communities working with relevant experts and local stakeholders can put forward their own proposals for sites for appropriate renewable energy projects. There are plenty of local communities, schools, universities, housing complexes, community centers, parks and other public and civics spaces and institutions who would welcome the opportunity to convene their constituents, engage with experts and come up with proposals that can cut emissions, reduce local pollution, lower their electric bills, and create local jobs.
NYPA must step up its efforts. In Powering Up, the Public Power coalition offers NYPA a road map for what such an ambitious program for the deployment of renewable power in New York would look like. The Public Power Observatory joins PPNY in demanding that NYPA and the state more broadly live up to the charge the citizens of New York have given them to power up the energy transition.
Contact information:
Ashley Dawson
Distinguished Professor
City University of New York
Mike Menser
Associate Professor
City University of New York
Co-Founder, NYC Climate Justice Hub