By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

The New York Public Service Commission (NYPSC) has taken the next step toward reaching its energy storage goals when it accepted the environmental review report connected to the state’s Energy Storage Roadmap.

The roadmap, announced with great fanfare by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, envisions 1.5 GW of storage installed in the state over the next seven years. The NYPSC has undertaken steps to make that goal a reality in the most effective, environmentally friendly way possible.

According to a release announcing its acceptance of the environmental review, the NYPSC says the goal means that nearly one-fifth of New York households could have energy storage once the 1.5 GW is installed.

“Energy storage is not only crucial to achieving our goal of 50 percent renewable energy by 2030, it will improve the resiliency of the grid as we face extreme weather events and other emergency situations,” said Commission Chair John B. Rhodes. “With this step, we continue to advance the deployment of energy storage, in line with the target of 1,500 MW deployed by 2025.”

Under the state’s Environmental Quality Review Act, the NYPSC had to conduct the review whose findings it accepted. It found a number of positive effects assocaited with the roadmap thanks to the reductions of peak-load demand, increased grid efficiency and the displacement of fossil-fuel based generation. These outcomes would result, the report said, in improved economic, health and environmental benefits.

At the same time, the negative effects are negligible.

According to the release, the benefits may include:

• Creation of approximately 30,000 jobs associated with energy storage research and development, development, manufacturing, installation and other support services;
• Mitigation of the impacts of climate change from approximately 2 million metric tons of avoided greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; and
• Improvement in public health from avoided emissions of criteria air pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx) and particulate matter (PM2.5). To the extent that these avoided air emissions occur from the displacement of peaker plants located in Potential Environmental Justice Areas (PEJAs), the associated benefits may accrue to these vulnerable communities.

New York’s Governor Cuomo has made renewable energy one of the hallmarks of his time in office, and while New York still lags behind California (and doesn’t even make the Solar Energy Industries Association’s list of Top 10 Solar States), aggressive targets like this are what will get them back into the game and put their renewable energy future on par with its New England cohort. States like Massachusetts and New Jersey await its arrival.