Clean Path NY: Our Clean Energy Future is All Renewable, All New York
New York State has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to set our state on a path of prosperity and resilience and show other states and nations what climate leadership looks like.
Governor Cuomo laid out a bold agenda in the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which requires New York’s electricity supply to be 70% carbon-free by 2030 and 100% by 2040.
Clean Path New York is the All Renewable, All New York solution that will enable us to achieve those ambitious goals. Our project is comprised of generation and transmission assets entirely in New York State. The project’s portfolio of 100 percent in-state advanced development-stage renewable projects is geographically diverse across New York, with benefits spread across communities. It will bring over 2,000 megawatts of new wind and 1,800 megawatts of new solar assets, all delivered from upstate directly to New York City by a 175-mile, underground, 1,300 megawatt high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line.
By keeping all investment in New York, Clean Path New York will support up to 10,500 jobs and contribute approximately $1.6B in state and local tax and PILOT revenues over 25 years. Clean Path New York will directly benefit New Yorkers for generations to come.
The first step to brining long-term prosperity and environmental justice to New York is untangling the power grid—this truly is a moral imperative for the people of our state because it is the best way to bring clean energy to New York City. This “Tale of Two Grids”—one serving upstate, one downstate—is plagued by congestion that prevents clean energy produced upstate from reaching high load centers downstate including New York City – where most of the power is supplied by older, fossil-fuel fired plants.
Clean Path New York will alleviate congestion at the crucial Total East and UPNY-SENY interfaces, largely resolving the upstate bottleneck and finally delivering clean power to New York City and supporting a truly statewide, clean energy grid. The existing 1,160 megawatt Blenheim-Gilboa pumped storage facility in Schoharie County uses proven technology that improves grid reliability and demand responsiveness.
Bringing upstate-generated renewables directly to New York City will allow us to close the fossil fuel-fired and pollution-generating plants downstate—bringing immediate benefits especially to communities across New York City. Those benefits include significant reductions in the pollutants that have plagued environmental justice communities—nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter emissions. [Approximately 57% of the emissions reduction would occur within New York City (Zone J), with an additional 15% within Long Island (Zone K), 10% within the Hudson Valley (Zone G), and 10% within the Capital District (Zone F).]
The 10,500 jobs that Clean Path New York will create are jobs for ALL New Yorkers—upstate and downstate and across every neighborhood.
Clean Path New York prioritizes diversity and inclusion and will work with communities, environmental justice organizations and other stakeholders to ensure that local voices are sought and heard. The project team will also make an unprecedented $270M investments job training, education, community health and the environment.
This ‘All Renewable, All New York’ plan was developed as a unique collaboration between New York Power Authority (NYPA), energyRe and Invenergy—key players across renewable energy development, real estate and high-voltage transmission. The benefits outlined in the plan are real, transparent and quantifiable, designed by the most experienced and accomplished team in New York.
We have an unprecedented opportunity to better the state of New York for generations to come, and the answer is Clean Path New York.
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