The newest iteration of New York’s energy roadmap maintains a zero-emission grid as a target but acknowledges an uncertain path to that goal, and likely a longer reliance on fossil fuels.

The State Energy Plan approved Dec. 16 is a directional guide for policymakers, not a binding set of rules, and it is a living document, with its next review due in just two years.

So change is inevitable, but as a snapshot in time, it reflects a late 2025 landscape in which high costs and federal policy gyrations make firm planning for clean energy difficult.

The plan’s uncertainties butt up against a central requirement of the state’s landmark Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) of 2019: 100% zero-emission electricity by 2040.

Environmental activists pounced on the plan when it was released in draft form in July, and they pounced on it again after the Dec. 16 vote on the final version. (See N.Y. Considers New Fossil Generation as Renewables Lag.)

Public Power NY charged the plan violates the CLCPA and added: “New York’s energy policy under Gov. Kathy Hochul has become increasingly similar to Donald Trump’s energy policy.”

The Natural Resources Defense Council said the plan lacks a focus on renewable energy: “This failure of state leadership risks locking New Yorkers into higher and more volatile energy costs for decades to come.”

Clean energy advocates have repeatedly criticized Hochul, a Democrat, for what she and her administration frame as a pragmatic attempt to keep New Yorkers’ already-high utility rates from getting too much higher amid rising costs for renewables and disappearing federal subsidies.

In recent months, Hochul or her appointees have vexed various constituencies by:

• • lowering the New York Power Authority’s goal for renewable energy development;
  • delaying implementation of New York’s all-electric new-construction law;
  • approving a major gas pipeline extension that the state repeatedly had rejected;
  • granting an emissions permit to a controversial cryptomining operation;
  • moving to extend operating subsidies for the state’s existing fleet of geriatric nuclear reactors and ordering development of a new advanced reactor; and
  • delaying promulgation of regulations to comply with the CLCPA’s requirements, particularly a new cap-and-invest system now the subject of court proceedings between advocates and the state.

‘Foundational Direction’

All this comes as Hochul and her appointees press through words or actions to expand clean energy and environmental protections.

But New York is an expensive state with old energy infrastructure and — particularly in the densely populated downstate region — recurring air quality problems because of fossil fuel combustion. So there are many competing concerns.

In her introduction to the plan, Hochul spoke of the difficulty of drafting an energy strategy that balances reliability, affordability and environmental health. And she said new investments in fossil infrastructure may be needed.

“This plan embraces a much-needed all-of-the-above strategy: hydropower, solar, onshore and offshore wind, our existing nuclear fleet, advanced nuclear, energy storage with the strongest safety standards in the nation, efficiency, electrification, bioenergy, demand flexibility, and, where needed, modern gas infrastructure to keep the system stable during the transition. It presents a guidepost for greater state energy independence,” she said.

The state Energy Planning Board, which consists mostly of Hochul’s top agency administrators, voted unanimously to approve the new plan.

Board Chair Doreen Harris, president of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), told RTO Insider that the factors on which policy is based are changing quickly in 2025, and the bands of uncertainty will get wider over the next 10 years, as policy directions set now become action decisions.

“The plan is intended to provide a foundational direction upon which other decision making can be considered,” she said. That is why so many agency heads populate the board — in many cases, they are going to be making the decisions that turn policy into action.

NYSERDA’s senior vice president for policy, analysis and research, Carl Mas, said a variety of scenarios were modeled and common threads were sought.

“It’s not that we’re forecasting precisely what load is going to be or what generation is going to be, but it gives us common ground of insights of where the state should be headed and what’s true across every scenario,” he said. Nuclear fission was one such common thread.

‘More Pragmatic’

NYISO President Richard Dewey is the 14th member of the Energy Planning Board. Although he does not cast votes, he has an important role helping match the reliability needs of the state grid to the numerous policy goals New York is setting for itself.

“We help through being part of NYISO’s process as well as the Coordinated Grid Planning Process to feed insights from load shapes and load growth into those more detailed processes,” Mas said. “So that’s another leverage point that we have from all this Energy Plan work.”

Harris said there have in the past been points where one priority has been out of alignment with another, “but directionally, we are aligned, which is a major head start on realizing those outcomes.”

Mas said there is flexibility in how to maintain reliability while decarbonizing the grid but no flexibility in the reliability requirements themselves.

“Those are standards that we need to follow. It flows down from NERC,” he said. “So our chance is to develop a plan and a system that meets those reliability needs in the most cost-effective way and puts us on the pathway to our goals.”

The Independent Power Producers of New York applauded the plan’s “more pragmatic” approach toward New York’s energy future.

“Strong statements of an ‘all-of-the-above’ strategy are important,” President Gavin Donohue said in a news release. “However, it is even more critical to ensure that market signals and regulatory paradigms match that sentiment in attracting further investment. Making energy clean, affordable and reliable should be the priority, but it may not come as quickly as the state would like due to the need for increased clarity and certainty on the state’s policies to carry out the plan.”

He added: “There is no shortage of private developers that want to invest in New York, but the state needs to realize that it is competing with other states and countries to attract investments in new technologies.”

Representing the New York renewable energy industry, the Alliance for Clean Energy New York expressed disappointment with the plan.

It said in a news release that the plan needed to do more to keep the state’s energy transition on track during the next three years, such as a predictable procurement schedule for large-scale renewables; utility accountability for interconnection costs and schedules; accelerated storage deployment; and support for [vehicle-to-grid] deployment.

“While we understand the current realities coming out of Washington have dramatically shifted the circumstances for renewable energy in the near term, we believe the final New York State Energy Plan’s constrained outlook ignores cleaner options unnecessarily,” Executive Director Marguerite Wells said. “With the ever-increasing demand for energy on the grid, New York should be doubling down, not shying away from its renewable energy and energy efficiency investments.”