Improvement work on the NY Energy Highway ‘on or ahead of schedule’

All the improvements called for in the New York Energy Highway blueprint are “on or ahead of aggressive schedules” set for each project.

That’s according to the New York Energy Highway Task Force, which on Tuesday announced the availability of a progress report on the blueprint plan.

The plan, which the task force submitted to Gov. Andrew Cuomo last October, includes a wide range of measures to provide up to 3,200 megawatts of additional electric generation and transmission capacity and clean-power generation through up to $5.7 billion in private- and public-sector investments, the task force said in a news release.  

The energy improvements would provide enough power to serve about 3 million homes.

The Energy Highway initiative, which Cuomo introduced in his 2012 State of the State address, is a centerpiece of his Power NY agenda. It is meant to ensure that New York’s energy grid is “the most advanced in the nation and promotes increased business investment in the state,” according to the task-force news release.

The Energy Highway blueprint proposed 13 specific actions, divided among four major categories, including efforts to expand and strengthen the energy highway, accelerate construction and repair, support clean energy, and drive technology innovation.

The blueprint update also includes a summary of the actions taken to this point.

For example, the New York State Public Service Commission in April took actions designed to ease transmission congestion, which the state says will help lower electricity prices in downstate New York and support the development of clean-energy projects throughout the state; plan for possible major power-plant retirements to maintain a reliable power grid; and expand natural-gas utility service to homeowners and businesses in New York to lower energy costs.

Additionally, the board of trustees of the New York Power Authority (NYPA) approved a life extension and modernization program for NYPA’s decades-old transmission system in Western, Central, and Northern New York.

The actions also included a $250 million Renewable Portfolio Standard solicitation from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority that targets electric-generation projects that will use clean-energy resources to help New York diversify its overall electric-energy portfolio.

The Energy Highway Task Force created the blueprint after reviewing 130 responses from 85 entities, including investor-owned utilities, private developers and investors in response to its request for information issued in April 2012.

With these and other actions initiated, the role of the New York Energy Task Force role is complete, according to NYPA.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com