New York City’s environmental justice communities and clean power advocates are pushing for more ambitious renewable energy goals in the New York Power Authority’s (NYPA) draft Renewables Strategic Plan.
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More tea.
The plan, which aims to help New York meet its emissions targets, has drawn criticism for potentially delaying the state’s goal of 70% renewable energy by 2030. Delays everywhere. In the subway, at the airport and now, net Zero goals.
This is what they are saying:
- Insufficient generating capacity: Advocates call for 15 gigawatts of additional renewable energy capacity, significantly more than the 3.5 gigawatts proposed in the draft plan.
- Lack of city-based projects: Out of 40 proposed projects, only one is located in New York City, raising concerns about continued reliance on polluting facilities in urban areas.
- Peaker plant concerns: The draft plan offers little guidance on addressing the city’s peak demand plants, which are costly to operate and detrimental to public health.
- Transmission challenges: With most projects planned upstate, there’s a need for extensive transmission line buildout to move electricity downstate.
- Distributed energy resources: Advocates suggest greater use of smaller-scale generation and storage devices in the city to complement larger projects.
The NYPA faces challenges in balancing ambitious renewable goals with practical constraints such as limited land availability and higher costs in urban areas. However, environmental justice advocates argue that more aggressive action is needed to address the disproportionate impact of pollution on disadvantaged communities, which make up 44% of the city’s census tracts.
As New York’s electricity demand is projected to grow due to increased electrification and new technologies, the pressure to accelerate the transition to renewables intensifies. The final plan will need to address these concerns while navigating the complex landscape of New York’s energy transition.
This all sounds so negative. Any #PositivePanda thoughts??
References
Google. (2025). Gemini (Imagen 3) [AI image generator]. https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/imagen
Gould, R. (2025) ‘New York City Environmental Justice Advocates Push for More Renewable Energy’, Inside Climate News, 27 January. Available at: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27012025/new-york-city-environmental-justice-advocates-renewable-energy/ (Accessed: 27 January 2025).
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (2024) ‘New York State Climate Action Council Scoping Plan’, NYSERDA, Albany. Available at: https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/All-Programs/Programs/New-York-State-Climate-Action-Council (Accessed: 27 January 2025).
New York Power Authority (2025) ‘Draft Renewables Strategic Plan’, NYPA, White Plains. Available at: https://www.nypa.gov/innovation/initiatives/renewables-strategic-plan (Accessed: 27 January 2025).
PEAK Coalition (2024) ‘Dirty Energy, Big Money: How Private Companies Make Billions from Polluting Fossil Fuel Peaker Plants in New York City’s Environmental Justice Communities’, PEAK Coalition, New York. Available at: https://www.peakcoalition.org/reports (Accessed: 27 January 2025).