OPINION: New Data Shows New York Nowhere Near Energy Goals

New York progressives have put the state on a fast track to an energy overhaul that has consistently raised feasibility concerns from the day it was conceived. The shortcomings of New York State’s energy goals are concerning to nearly everyone who has looked objectively into the realities of the plan. Now, two new reports reinforce the blatant unworkability of the path we have been forced upon. As a result of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) passing in 2019, New York’s homes and businesses are expected to virtually eliminate carbon emissions in the future. While protecting our environment is extremely important, the timeline set forth in the legislation, which has us stopping fossil fuel-based electricity production by 2040, simply cannot be met. As the old expression goes, “numbers don’t lie.” Cornell University Professor Lindsay Anderson and her research team studied the problem using a model based on New York’s energy usage, transmission infrastructure, and weather. Their work is not a theoretical model based on fixed circumstances; it’s an extrapolation of what New York will actually look like if we implement this plan as written. The results are troubling, to say the least. In order for New York to meet the energy demands laid out in the legislation, the state will need to supplement wind and solar power with about 40 additional gigawatts in new energy production. That figure, as it turns out, is how much energy New York uses right now. In other words, after we spend hundreds of billions of dollars to completely overhaul the state’s energy grid, we will still need as much energy as we use right now for the whole state on top of what the renewable-energy plan mandates. According to the Cornell analysis, during the hottest and coldest months, with no backup in place, we could face blackouts “big enough to put half of New York City in the dark, for example. Blackouts that could last a month in some parts of the state.” While a worst-case scenario is unlikely, the question still remains, why are we spending billions and billions of dollars to create an energy grid that will not even come close to functioning properly? Making matters clearer, the New York Independent System Operator (or NYISO) also released a new report, the 2024 Reliability Needs Assessment, indicating New York’s electricity demand is on the verge of spiking thanks to things like the “electrification of the transportation and building sectors and large, energy-intensive commercial projects that include data centers and chip fabrication.” On top of that, a coalition of business and energy groups called for a “deep analysis” of the state’s energy plan in a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul. The facts are plain; the CLCPA is not even close to feasible. The math doesn’t work, and we are on the wrong path to energy efficiency. We all want a better, cleaner energy grid. Unfortunately, the current proposal simply will not cut it. The state must pause this plan and rethink what we are doing before spending billions of taxpayers’ dollars on something that cannot work.              

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William (Will) A. Barclay, 55, Republican, is the New York Assembly minority leader and represents the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses all of Oswego County, as well as parts of Jefferson and Cayuga counties.