Submitted by
Brad Jones
NYISO President and CEO
A quick look across the energy landscape shows we’re in a period of exciting innovation. How people think about and use electricity is changing as quickly as the technology that generates and delivers it. Here in New York, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) is at the heart of those changes: meeting consumers’ power needs, addressing public policy goals, and sustaining electricity’s fundamental contributions to economic vitality.
As great as these recent changes have been, new challenges are emerging, and the reliability needs of the electric system are growing increasingly complex. For example, the growth of renewables like solar and wind and other distributed energy resources will impact how we run and manage the grid.
New York’s proposed Clean Energy Standard will mandate that by 2030 half of all electricity consumed in the state come from clean and renewable energy sources. But because most renewable energy is generated in Upstate regions far from the areas of greatest demand in Southeastern New York, an upgraded and expanded transmission system is needed to efficiently move green power to high-demand regions of the state.
Changing trends in power generation also require our attention. Natural gas is expected to surpass coal as the nation’s primary fuel source for electricity in 2016. In New York, natural gas already fuels the largest portion of our generating fleet, and that share is growing due in large part to low natural gas prices. Those low fuel costs helped drive New York’s 2015 wholesale electric energy prices to the lowest in the history of New York’s competitive markets.
As older fossil fuel and nuclear power plants near retirement or suspension, New York’s set of energy resources becomes less diverse. The emissions-free attributes of nuclear power and the fast-starting capability of gas-fired turbines offer value in the transition to the expansion of cleaner, greener power resources.
Finally, smaller generation technologies, including solar photovoltaics, create both challenges and opportunities. These projects must be properly integrated with the central grid to provide electric system resilience. On this front, more change is coming. New York’s Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) program is identifying regulatory changes and market developments intended to facilitate a larger role for distributed energy resources in the Empire State.
At the NYISO we’re working every day to address the challenges and opportunities created by this shifting paradigm. Our competitive markets have a proven track record of helping the power grid adapt to changes in technology, demand, fuel supply economics, and public policy while providing real value to consumers and our economy.
Change is constant, that’s clear. And New York is on the cutting edge of this new energy future. New York is adapting to these changes while achieving its goals of cleaner energy, improved efficiency and economic development. Continuing our commitment to competitive markets will maintain the Empire State’s legacy of leadership in energy.
