By William Opalka

NYISO last week forwarded to New York regulators 12 proposals for transmission projects to help the state meet its public policy objectives (16-E-0558).

The proposed projects, coming at the start of the ISO’s 2016/17 transmission planning cycle, would provide the state with access to offshore wind resources off Long Island, Canadian hydropower and clean energy from PJM. There are also proposals to unbottle clean energy from upstate production areas that are distant from load centers.

The proposals follow the Public Service Commission’s adoption of a Clean Energy Standard that seeks to overhaul the state’s generation fleet by producing 50% of its energy needs from renewable resources by 2030. (See New York Adopts Clean Energy Standard, Nuclear Subsidy.)

New York has other public policy initiatives to decarbonize its generation, including its Reforming the Energy Vision initiative, the Clean Energy Fund and compliance with the federal Clean Power Plan.

‘Holistic’ Approach Sought

New York City said a holistic approach is preferable to evaluating individual projects in isolation. “Identifying a single transmission line, or a segment of a line, as a need driven by public policy requirements is insufficient to achieve the state’s public policy goals, and such a piecemeal approach could effectively prevent timely achievement of those goals,” it wrote.

HQUS, a subsidiary of Hydro-Quebec, said proposals to import hydropower could satisfy much of the state’s requirements under the CES. “For example, a new 1,000-MW DC transmission project can deliver up to 8.7 TWh of incremental renewable energy to New York, nearly one-third of incremental renewable energy needed to meet the 2030 target.”

A joint filing by the New York Power Authority, National Grid and Central Hudson Gas & Electric, said the key to satisfying the goals is unlocking bottlenecks in northern New York that limit access to Canadian imports and wind and hydropower along the Saint Lawrence River.

“The possible addition of over 1,000 MW of new wind projects in northern New York, as reflected in the NYISO interconnection queue, potential increased renewable imports from Canada, and possible additional load reductions could exacerbate transmission constraints in delivering clean, renewable energy and its environmental benefits to the state’s load centers,” the filing said.

Transparency Concern

Competitive transmission developer NextEra Energy Transmission New York expressed concern that incumbents could hold advantages in any solicitation for projects.

“Regardless of whether the renewable assumptions include new wind generation and solar development in western New York or northern New York, or increased imports from Canada, all assumptions should be made public so that all transmission developers can begin on a level playing field,” NextEra wrote.

Developers from outside of New York praised the CES provision that gives equal footing to projects from outside of the state. “Adding new transmission capability from PJM will facilitate delivery of the associated hourly matching energy to downstate loads, thereby helping reduce in-state transmission bottlenecks. Access to transmission-enabled, least-cost renewables is critical for New York state to meet the CES while minimizing ratepayer impacts,” wrote Poseidon, the developer of the proposed 500-MW Poseidon Transmission project, a 78-mile underground and undersea HVDC cable from South Brunswick, N.J., to Long Island.

Offshore Wind

PSEG Long Island, which operates the island’s distribution grid, said it and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority are evaluating scenarios for delivering up to 4,000 MW of offshore wind.

“In all such cases, the offshore wind resources are likely to be distributed to several points of interconnection within [New York City and Long Island], with additional transmission system upgrades being required for deliverability to the rest of the New York Control Area,” it said.

Others making filings were Avangrid; Invenergy; New York Transco; the New York Transmission Owners and NYPA; North America Transmission; and PPL Translink.

PSC staff will review the filings and make recommendations to the commission.

In the previous planning cycle, which began in 2014, the PSC declared public policy needs for an AC project to serve the New York City area and one for western New York.

In response, the ISO issued a request for proposals in February for two projects in the Mohawk and Hudson valleys to deliver energy to load centers in and around New York City. (See New York Transmission Developers Ask FERC to Order a Do-over.)

In June, the ISO identified 10 projects as finalists to relieve congestion in western New York. (See NYISO Identifies 10 Public Policy Tx Projects.)