It would be “feasible and cost-effective” to retire more than a gigawatt (GW) of gas and fuel oil peaker plant capacity on New York’s densely populated Long Island within three years, according to a new study.
Long Island is home to 4,357MW of peaker plants, which operate at an annual capacity of just 15% or less, but cost the customers of Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) nearly half a billion dollars a year in maintenance costs.
The new study by Strategen Consulting finds that over a quarter of that capacity, 1,116MW, could be replaced by 2023 using energy storage and a further 1,209MW by 2030, as New York scales up its deployments of solar, offshore wind and energy efficiency measures to meet the state’s target of carbon-free energy by 2040.
Not only is that a feasible aim, Strategen said, but the deployment of energy storage as peaker replacement could save LIPA customers nearly US$400 million, while helping put the island on track to meet those state-wide goals, which are part of New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).
The New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium (NY-BEST), a coalition pitched somewhere between a trade association and a technology acceleration support agency, commissioned Strategen Consulting to figure out a plan through which expensive and polluting peaking capacity in Long Island could be retired and replaced with low carbon technologies.
The amount currently paid in maintenance costs equates to nearly three times the rate for peaking capacity in New York’s Independent System Operator (NYISO)-run markets, while Long Island is already one of the areas of the US subjected to extreme weather events including hurricanes known to be exacerbated in intensity and frequency by climate change.
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