![]() I’m just taking a Greyhound on the Hudson River line. Cause I’m in a ... I’m in a New York state of mind. — Billy Joel, 1976 In our initial 12 Progress Reports, the focus has been on what countries were doing about alternate energy, mostly good, except for Russia. This month it will be about our states. I am happy to report that all of America’s states are making efforts to go green. Solar and wind are rapidly becoming mainstream. Next month, we’ll look at federal efforts and how we compare to the rest of the world. States’ rights and responsibility Texas leads the nation in wind power and California in solar. Iowa is second in wind with Oklahoma third; North Carolina is second and Arizona third in installed solar power. It is difficult to discern the true net affect that combined solar and wind has had on the total energy scheme in the United States. Texas, known more for oil and a being a “wild catter” state, for example, has its own independent power grid run by ERCOT that comes under much different rules of operation than other grid systems. Texas leads the nation in wind by a huge margin of 16 gigawatts, almost three times that of Iowa. California holds the lead in solar by a large margin, nearly five times that of North Carolina. However, the solar farms of one state may be less effective than another due to the natural availability of sunshine; another state could have less installed power yet produce more energy. Simply put some states are limited by nature as to the use of wind and sun. In some southern states it’s very overcast so it may not warrant the implementation of solar panels. In other areas the wind is not sufficient or the terrain limits the speed of the wind. Curiously, states with the most coastline and states in the middle of the country do the best with wind. Keep in mind sunny areas that are cold produce about 20 percent more energy than sunny areas that are hot, using the exact same solar cells! So why is our state so great? What makes New York special is that we are making the most with the least. New York provides the opportunities now and has a plan for the future. NY is not so solar or wind abundant as other states, but we are making the best of it. In previous columns, I had to admit to loathing most politicians, especially when it comes to technology. However, the Cuomo administration hits it out the park with its now enacted energy law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. This law provides numerous incentives with existing utilities to work out the cost benefit to installing solar vis a vis solar and farms and wind farms. The utilities win because they receive the cost benefit of the up front costs of building new facilities and the public wins by savings created by the return on investment of these solar and wind farms. There is the issue of using farmland, but there is a contingency of solar grazers that still keep it a farm. These are, in fact, sheep that do an excellent job keeping the grass around the solar panels down while becoming wool and lunch for their owners. The bill has goals and routes to achieve them. New York has awarded a total of approximately 4,700 megawatts of new, large-scale renewable energy contracts since March 2018 through three separate solicitations, a globally significant advancement in renewable energy in just two years. Collectively, these projects will provide enough renewable energy to power up to 2 million households and meet nearly 10% of New York’s electricity needs by 2025. CLCPA The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act is an ambitious act to bring NY to one of the highest clean energy standards in the nation by 2040. It also is intended to create jobs and encourage clean energy through wind and solar installations. The law mandates that: • 70 percent of the state’s electricity must come from renewable energy by 2030; • 100 percent of the state’s electricity supply must be emissions free by 2040; • 9,000 MW of offshore wind must be installed to serve New Yorkers by 2035; • 6,000 MW of solar energy must be installed to serve New Yorkers by 2025; • A statewide goal of reducing energy consumption by 185 trillion British thermal units (BTUs) from the state’s 2025 forecast through energy efficiency improvements; • 3,000 MW of energy storage capacity must be installed to serve. The CLCPA kicks off its first big wind projects: The Empire Offshore Wind Project and the Sunrise Off Shore wind Project. Much preparation is required to set wind turbines offshore in a federal jurisdiction. It takes two years just to clear the hurdles. I spoke with one of the offshore project’s spokesmen to ask if they have looked into Lake Ontario. Wind experiments were conducted at the James Fitzpatrick nuclear power plant 1985, and the wind turbine averaged 111% over the anticipated output over time. A survey also was done about placing wind turbines in Lake Ontario, and 70% of the participants were in favor of doing so. The spokesman said he would get back to me. These two projects will produce about 1.7 gigawatts of power. Energy Sector Innovation Credit ActYou may have read about Congressman Tom Reed’s legislation in Thursday’s Finger Lakes Times. I would like to add one thing to that story: this is one of the few bills that addresses the issue of storage for alternate energy systems. In a prior column I mentioned that energy storage is the missing link to success transitioning to complete separation from conventional power plants. This increase need for energy storage will spawn increased interest in building better and cheaper batteries. I quote here from Congressman Reed’s website, “Tax provisions designed to benefit specific energy technologies or resources have been part of the U.S. tax code for decades. The Reed bill is notable because it will create technology-neutral production and investment tax credits to incentivize the deployment of ‘first-of-a-kind’ clean energy technologies on the electric grid. Further, this bill includes a natural ramp-down based on total percentage of national electricity generation, thus supporting innovation without fostering dependence on public financial support. The Reed bill will allow federal investment to spur innovation and help to advance the deployment of the technologies of tomorrow.” Harbec Plastic — the NY Eco Business role model Harbec Plastics in Ontario, N.Y. is one of the very few companies that has the kind of wind turbine output that can serve the business’ electrical power needs. Bob Bechtold is the owner and visionary who created the NY Eco Business model. Hopefully it will be followed by many businesses to come. Bechtold did this years before the subsidies and other incentives were in place. It is one of the very few turbines that gets it wind off Lake Ontario, which is a “hot spot” for wind. His vision should be the model for all business to come. In conclusion The good news is that across the board alternate energy is growing at a fast pace and all states have programs in place to at least open the door for its growth. New York along with Massachusetts, as it turns out, are the most progressive. It is great to see the bipartisan work by Congressman Reed’s office and the diligence of the office of Gov. Cuomo to make this all happen. Please encourage your representative to vote for Congressman Reed’s bill. Everyone has their political views, but this one topic that must have everyone’s undivided support and we can all say with pride, “I’m in the New York state of mind."
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AuthorJames Bobreski is a process control engineer who has been in the field of electric power production for 43 years. His “Alternate Energy” column runs monthly. Archives
February 2020
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