New York state and its utilities are leveraging new support at the federal level and investing $700 million in a program to encourage energy efficiency measures and building electrification, primarily through clean energy heat pump technologies.
“Heat pumps and electrification are some of our most pressing challenges, as buildings are responsible for approximately a third of New York’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions,” New York State Energy Research and Development Authority CEO Doreen Harris said Tuesday.
Through the state’s Clean Heat program, NYSERDA alone is investing $230 million, Harris told over 160 participants at a webinar hosted by the New York Geothermal Energy Association (NY-GEO).
To achieve a carbon neutral building stock by midcentury, as required by the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, new construction projects will need to be all-electric, and existing buildings will need to be updated to all-electric demand, she said.
“We are moving the needle on both of these priorities, and just last month we awarded $13 million to 14 all-electric, energy-efficient, carbon-neutral, multifamily buildings throughout the second round of our $40 million Buildings of Excellence competition,” Harris said.
Sending Signals, Creating Jobs
The heating market needs strong signals to move away from its current fossil-fuel comfort zone, according to Bill Nowak, executive director of NY-GEO.
The organization has seen cost-competitive heat pump proposals that were turned down “seemingly on the basis of familiarity more than anything else,” Nowak said.
The Geothermal Exchange Organization was pleased with measures passed in the federal end-of-year budget bill that support geothermal, COO Ryan Dougherty said. The bill included a tax credit extension through 2023 and the classification of geothermal heat pumps as renewable energy technology.
“The Biden infrastructure plan goes much farther than highways and bridges. … [It] calls for a 10-year extension of both production and investment tax credits and makes at least a couple calls out to clean energy and electrification of two million buildings,” Dougherty said.
President Biden framed his $2 trillion infrastructure plan as the American Jobs Plan and referred to well-paying union jobs as a way to build support for the plan across a broad spectrum of voters. (See Biden Infrastructure Plan Would Boost Clean Energy.)
There is potential for geothermal development under the infrastructure plan, according to Steven Schunk, an energy specialist at SUNY Geneseo.
“We may need to expand our definition to include new kinds of infrastructure, such as low-temperature district heating, that we’ve never built in the past but should in the future,” Dougherty said. “There’s nothing in the plan that points specifically to district systems, but there’s certainly potential for funding within the rough parameters.”
The Department of Energy, he added, has reached out to SUNY for information on district geothermal heating, “so clearly the administration is starting to think about the potential.”
NYSERDA likes to cooperate with other states on policies, standards and timelines, which are helpful for heat pumps and electrification, Harris said.
The agency’s statewide heat pump implementation plan calls for increasing the pool of skilled labor needed to boost the industry by training 14,000 workers across the heat pump supply chain, including 4,200 workers to sell, design and install systems.
“We’re very serious about building an industry here that can serve not only our goals, but perhaps export to other states as well, so the workforce development programs that we’re implementing are intended to benefit New Yorkers,” she said.