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(Reuters) – Electricity supplies in New York have shrunk over the last five years, leaving one of the most populous U.S. states at risk of falling short of the energy needed to power homes and businesses on the hottest and coldest days of the year, the state grid operator said on Tuesday.
- The retirement of fossil fuel-fired power plants in New York has outpaced the addition of comparable new electricity generation, resulting in a 1.5 gigawatt net decline in supplies since 2019, the NYISO said in an annual report.
- Rising power demand from the electrification of buildings and transportation, as well as the construction of very large industrial energy users, is intensifying the supply-and-demand crunch, it said.
- That disparity is becoming a particular concern in the winter, with more buildings relying on electrical heat systems and when natural gas-fired power systems are more prone to freezing, NYISO said.
- Prolonged cold spells over the past two years have reduced electricity supplies to razor-thin margins and “pushed the system near its limits, requiring frequent emergency actions,” NYISO said.
- “Winter conditions are emerging as one of the most significant reliability challenges facing New York’s electric system,” said NYISO, which also said that adding supplies of both renewable and fossil-fired power plants would be needed to increase the grid’s reliability.
Reporting by Laila Kearney in New York; Editing by Will Dunham
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