Original article by Times Union Editorial Board.
New York has received more bad news on the energy front: The New York Independent System Operator, the nonprofit entity that operates the power grid, has found the state’s grid reliability is looking even shakier.’
Its 2024 Reliability Needs Assessment predicts that the grid could be unable to meet New York City’s power needs in 2033, and that statewide, “no surplus power would remain in ten years without further resource development.”
The NYISO report comes after two state agencies — the Energy Research and Development Agency and the Public Service Department — warned this summer that we’re not going to hit the 2030 renewables target set by the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.
Many factors contribute to our current energy outlook, including the state’s chip industry expansion plans and the pace and scale of green-energy development. Let’s focus here on one variable: crypto.
Why crypto? First, because the NYISO report notes cryptomining is a “large load” user of state power. For that energy expenditure, New York reaps few jobs and little if any public good. That’s why this editorial board has argued several times that the cryptomining industry has no place in a state that must make strategic choices about its power use.
The other reason cryptomining needs our attention: The state’s two-year moratorium on new crypto mines that run on fossil fuels quietly lapsed last month. It makes this a good time to ask: What’s that going to mean for our energy plans?
Part of the reason for the pause was, ostensibly, so New York could study cryptomining and assess whether the industry can coexist with our green-energy goals. The legislation that enacted the moratorium included such a study as a mandate.
This probably won’t surprise you: The study hasn’t been finished.
The day before the Nov. 22 expiration of the cryptomining moratorium, Bloomberg reported that the state Department of Environmental Conservation had sent a letter to lawmakers telling them that the state could not find enough experts to conduct the study.
They couldn’t get it done, even though they had two years to do it? Even though it was a legally required study? Even though it’s an issue that could have a big impact on New York’s environment and energy future?
Yes, yes and yes. So here we are: We don’t know any more than we did two years ago.
Meanwhile, Greenidge, a natural-gas-burning crypto mine in the Finger Lakes, just got handed a win: A state Supreme Court has ruled the plant can continue operating despite the state’s attempt to shut it down. The DEC had denied Greenidge an air permit, saying the facility didn’t align with the state’s climate goals. But the court ruled the plant had not been given an opportunity to justify its continued operation.
Neither the Greenidge case nor the delayed crypto report say much of anything good about the state’s ability to make its climate dreams a reality. New York continues to stumble along into a hazy energy future.
