Justin Driscoll, acting CEO of the New York Power Authority (NYPA), met with the New York Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee last week to discuss how the authority’s duties have evolved and the role of new technologies in decarbonization.
Driscoll told the Feb. 28 live-streamed session about NYPA’s growing “statewide footprint” and how NYPA is the “backbone of the [state’s] grid,” operating 16 electricity facilities, including three hydroelectric and several gas-fired generators, as well as more than 1,400 circuit-miles of transmission.
NYPA also is partnering on the Smart Path Connect, a project to rebuild and strengthen about 100 miles of transmission in the North Country and the Mohawk Valley, and the Propel NY Energy project to improve the grid on Long Island, New York City and Westchester County. Other NYPA initiatives are directed at improving transmission cybersecurity and reducing consumer costs, such as ReCharge NY, Driscoll said.
Sen. Mario R. Mattera (R) questioned NYPA’s investments in battery charging stations, asking “why ratepayers should pay for an investment that is already being made by the private sector.”
Driscoll responded that “we need to use all the tools in our toolbox.”
“Given the enormity of what we’re looking to achieve, I believe NYPA and government can play an ancillary role in the energy transition,” he said.
Sen. Mark Walczyk (R) asked for Driscoll’s perspective on NYPA’s role in the future.
Driscoll said that NYPA’s role is “additive” to what is currently going on in the private sector.
Sen. John Mannion (D) asked whether NYPA was investigating nuclear energy, particularly small modular reactors (SMR).
Driscoll said New York would not be a national leader in nuclear development but that NYPA has interest in the potential deployment of SMR and is following development of the technology.
Mattera asked whether green hydrogen has a future in the state.
“Hydrogen will certainly play a big role,” Driscoll said. “But the question in the industry is really what is the right role.
“It is too early to say whether hydrogen will play a role in the power sector,” Driscoll said, adding there are “big use cases in the heavy industry sector, particularly cement manufacturing or public transportation.”
The discussion on hydrogen follows previous Senate hearings at which senators expressed an openness to innovative technologies.
Sen. Kevin S. Parker (D), chair of the committee, said New Yorkers “are struggling with high cost of heating their homes, lighting their homes, and we need to find ways to address that.”
Parker told Mattera that he supports emerging technologies, such as hydrogen, and that he “doesn’t think we are in different places,” but it is simply a “question of how we get from point A to point B.”
