New York City could face power outages during the summer of 2025, when fossil fuel-fired plants that have been trusted workhorses during heat waves are forced to shut down to serve the state’s green energy goals.
The grim assessment comes from the New York Independent System Operator, the nonprofit that oversees the state’s energy grid, which warns of outages that could lead to brownouts or worse during extreme heat when air conditioners run around the clock.
Specifically, the city could face an energy gap of nearly 450 megawatts — one megawatt powers 1,000 homes — on a day of peak energy demand, a gap that would grow during heat waves of 98 degrees or more, the study notes.
While the NYISO has highlighted these concerns in reports dating back to 2021, it’s the first time it painted such a nightmare scenario for the city’s energy’s future.
The NYISO report links potential outages to plans to shutter so-called “peaker plants,” a key piece of New York’s goal for a carbon-free grid that relies on renewable sources of power — solar, wind and hydro — for the bulk of the state’s energy needs.
Peakers:NY’s fossil fuel plants may need to stick around for years, power grid overseer says
Peaker plants face shutdown, despite coming power demand
In 2019, the state Department of Environmental Conservation created the “Peaker Rule,” which sets limits on emissions of nitrogen oxides, effectively putting peaker plants that generate power during periods of heavy demand out of business.
After decades of operation, 37 peaker plants that could not upgrade their pollution controls have plans to retire, according to the state officials.
“With the additional peakers unavailable, the bulk power transmission system will not be able to securely and reliably serve the forecasted demand in New York City,” the report says.
Critics of the state’s renewable energy transition, among them the owners of fossil fuel plants, used the NYISO’s findings to suggest the state…
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