Suppose that you are a large U.S. state with a dynamic modern economy. Here’s an idea for a strategy for powering your electrical grid: Intentionally disinvest in your functioning fossil fuel generation plants; fail to maintain them adequately, and let them age into obsolescence. Meanwhile, encourage and even subsidize the development of solar panels as a replacement. After all, solar power is cheaper!
Those who follow the policy of New York State with respect to our electrical grid will recognize this description as covering the essential elements of our strategy. In our case, the strategy was mainly enacted into law in 2019 via the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).
In heading down this path, have we checked around to see what other states or countries have adopted this strategy, and how it has worked out? Just asking.
Let’s start with a quick review of New York’s currently-existing strategy for its grid.
Today, the State gets something over half of its electricity from fossil fuels, almost entirely natural gas, with most of the remainder from hydro (mostly Niagara Falls) and nuclear. The CLCPA contains mandates that that shall change, and rapidly. Section 4 of the CLCPA (codified as Public Service Law § 66-p(2)) mandates that the State get “seventy percent of the state wide electric generation” from “renewable energy systems” by 2030, and that by 2040 “the statewide electrical demand system will be zero emissions.”
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