Climate Denial Crock of the Week

In a move that I’ve been waiting for, a major announcement of new transmission that will run underground, alleviating the siting concerns that have bedeviled clean energy developers set to bring clean energy from the heartland and plains to the population centers where customers live.

There’s another key under grounding project, the so-called SOO line that is proposed across Iowa and Illinois, which has been held up by bureaucratic nonsense between regional system operators and FERC. Still hoping for that one to be built, but this announcement seems like a big deal to me.

CleanPath NY:

This $11B clean infrastructure project comprised of over 20 wind and solar generation projects – all located in New York State – and a new 174-mile, underground transmission line, will enable the delivery of more than 7.5 million megawatt-hours of emissions-free energy into New York City every year. The project will help ensure New York State meets its nation-leading climate goals while creating over 8,300 jobs, and saving New York State ratepayers millions each year in energy costs in its first 25 years of operation. Environmental justice is at the core of the Clean Path NY project and we believe the new green economy must benefit all New Yorkers. The New York Power Authority (NYPA) and Forward Power – a joint venture between energyRe, LLC and Invenergy, LLC – are partners on the project.

Solar Power World:

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) finalized contracts for the construction of its Clean Path NY (CPNY) and Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE) projects that will greatly alter the state’s energy mix.

If approved, the CPNY and CHPE projects will add to New York’s existing pipeline of large-scale renewable energy projects, comprised of nearly 100 solar and both onshore and offshore wind projects totaling 11,000 MW of clean power — enough to power over 5 million New York homes when completed. This pipeline of renewable projects will generate more than 60% of New York’s electricity once operational.

The state’s first-of-its-kind renewable energy and transmission projects are expected to drastically reduce greenhouse gases and improve air quality and generate $8.2 billion in economic development across the state, including investments in disadvantaged communities. As the largest transmission projects contracted for New York State in the last 50 years, these projects will reduce the city’s fossil fuel use for electricity by more than 80% in 2030 when combined with the state’s deployment of clean energy and offshore wind.

The is development puts New York on track for its goal of producing 70% of the state’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030 as outlined in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection