BUFFALO, N.Y. — As Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York state continue to press for a climate change policy for total renewable energy sources by 2040, we are now seeing announcements of some of the first utility investments to make sure it is all connected in a reliable electric power grid.
And some ratepayers will end up paying for it.
If you look at the large scale National Grid power station in West Seneca, you will see a recently completed $120 million utility project, which started in 2016 for those 115,000 volt power lines.
But now National Grid is announcing a much larger scale, over $4 billion upstate upgrade program, covering everything from rebuilding up to 1,000 miles of those large-scale transmission lines to more improved power stations and other facilities.
Ken Kujawa, the Regional Western New York Manager for National Grid, told 2 On Your Side: "A lot of our transmission infrastructure was built in the first half of the 20th century. The needs of our customers have changed and they're going be changing again as more and more technologies that are electrically driven get introduced."
And to literally power all those future required electric vehicles and heat pumps and other clean green infrastructure, there needs to be sufficient capacity.
2 On Your Side asked We hear the grid is possibly gonna be overloaded. Can you be ready to meet those goals?
Kujawa responded: "This is a big step in that process."
National Grid must assist the state's goal of hooking up those utility transmission lines to upstate renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and other technologies. It has been in place for hydro-power from Niagara Falls for decades.
Today's energy source mix, according to the Independent Source Operator, for energy production shows renewables at just roughly 16 percent. The state's "ambitious" goal is actually 70 percent by 2030, so quite a ways to go.
National Grid emphasizes there is more to its plan beyond transmission lines.
"The upstate upgrade goes much deeper that that. There are 45 substations across upstate New York that are scheduled to be rebuilt as well," Kujawa said.
Some of those are here in Buffalo. The plan also calls for more reliability with regional severe weather.
"Wind events, snow events here in Western New York seem to be much more common place. We need to build our systems so that we can minimize the impact of those weather events."
2 On Your Side asked: But are National Grid customers going to have to pay for this?
Kujawa responded: "I don't think we have the numbers in place, but they will pay for it. It will impact customer bills but it's not gonna be today. It's gonna be years out before these projects are completed and hen once they are then the customers will see that impact on their bill."
The State Public Service Commission staff did put extra costs for utility customers at 3 to 16 percent and some commissioners say future upgrades may bring higher costs.
Kujawa added: "Those investments that we're seeing today are the start, and you will continue to see more investments in our infrastructure in the decades to come."