Public Service Commission Advances Energy Plan

By WESTON LOVING

Governor Cuomo’s goal for seventy percent of energy produced by the state of New York to come from renewable energy sources took a step forward on Thursday as the New York State Public Service Commission voted to implement a renewable energy plan into action.

This plan strengthened Cuomo’s proposal first announced in 2016 calling for only 50 percent to come from renewable sources. However, in June 2019, he added 20 percent to the goal.

The plan that the commission voted on would alleviate the need for fossil fuels for the entire state power grid. Most of the slack would be picked up by offshore wind resources and solar energy that, the commission reported, would provide fifteen thousand megawatts of energy. Other forms of renewable sources such as hydropower, onshore wind, geothermal, ocean energy, and offshore wind farms in the Great Lakes would complete the program’s arsenal of sources.

Through a series of Generic Environmental Impact Statements (GEIS), the Commission analyzed and explored “potential environmental impacts associated with the initiatives.”

“The additional renewable energy resources needed to fulfill the CLCPA goals will occur in the context of a number of additional energy-related programs and plans in New York,” the report said.

These programs were designed to incentivize corporations, schools, and other entities to reduce their carbon footprint and to slowly switch over to less harmful methods of energy. Other resources would come from governmental structures that are farther ahead in the implementation process than the large-scale renewable energy plan.

This is a large undertaking as New York is the fourth largest state by population and getting gas and electricity to them normally is in the most normal of circumstances is a painstaking process.