Buried in all the glowing coverage of New York’s green energy ambitions is something few have yet to acknowledge—the cost.
The dirty little secret never broached by the politicians touting the virtues of windmills and solar farms is the fact that no matter how much is spent, the ratepayers will be forced to foot the bill. And for the private companies they’re cutting deals with to make their green dreams a reality, money is no object.
Case in point is the $700 million Sunrise Wind project off Long Island’s south shore. The cable connecting their turbines to the grid will come up from the ocean at Smith Point Park in Shirley, but that’s not anywhere near where the windmills will be. They’ll be 120 miles away off Montauk Point, necessitating an extremely expensive 120-mile cable across the bottom of the Atlantic. The Eco-Edison, a special ship described as a “floatel,” is being built to tend to the turbines with a hefty price tag in the tens of millions. The headquarters for the project will be on the other side of Long Island and will cost the ratepayers $37 million.
And that’s not all. To convince Brookhaven Town officials to let them build a cable under William Floyd Parkway to carry their juice to a waiting public, Sunrise Wind committed to forking over $130 million in future ratepayer money over the next 25 years. Suffolk County will get $40 million in impact fees, and $5 million will go to Stony Brook University to develop a Research and Development Partnership. To get everyone ready for the jobs the wind project will create, the Sunrise folks are ponying up $10 million for a training center in Brentwood.
It’s no wonder that before a single kilowatt is produced, Sunrise and its cohorts in the New York wind energy game, Beacon Wind, East Wind, and Empire Wind, are already asking regulators to let them charge even more for their precious power.
Said Teddy Muhlfelder of Empire and Beacon Wind, “Like other developers at the forefront of this emerging U.S. industry, we have seen the estimated costs of our projects rise sharply due to inflation, supply chain disruptions, permitting and interconnection delays, rising interest rates, and other outside factors. While we have worked to manage these issues, given the unique moment in our global economy, this is an industry-wide issue that cannot be overcome at the project level.”
Bernard Looney, another wind spokesman, said, “We will not develop projects that don’t meet our returns threshold, which is why we are in the midst of renegotiating the purchase contracts in the East Coast.” He said the company needs to make 6-8% returns on its investment in the projects.
While all this is going on, the state of New York under Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Biden administration have slammed the door on new investments in natural gas-fired facilities, even going as far as to ban gas stoves and eliminate the clean-burning fuel entirely for heating and cooling in just eight years. This has left consumers scratching their heads since New York sits on a massive reserve of natural gas larger than that of Saudi Arabia. Tapping this energy would be an economic blessing for all of New York.
Those who see the Empire State’s energy train wreck coming are asking a simple question: Where will the electricity come from when it’s dark out and the wind’s not blowing? For the answer, one need only look to California and Texas where a head-long switch to green energy without investments in 24-hour alternatives is causing brownouts and skyrocketing energy costs—not the most forward-thinking way to power a modern economy.
One elected official who’s raising a red flag over the $48 billion in green projects coming down the pike for the region is state Senator Mario Mattera. “This is bad politics that are going to hurt all New Yorkers,” Mattera said in predicting the issue will be a key factor in 2024 when state and federal offices, including the White House, will be up for election. According to the senator, the Democrats behind the Green New Deal have been unable to adequately explain the costs associated with their projects. “We need to transition into renewable energy at a certain rate, a certain pace,” he said.
His view was shared by Assemblyman Joseph DeStefano who said he is worried that “New Yorkers will end up with a failing energy system that won’t even come close to meeting their needs.” He added, “Energy costs will go through the roof and we’ll have rolling brownouts, maybe even prolonged blackouts like they had in Texas when a deep freeze crippled their system.”
Proponents of the Green Deal are hoping that the elimination of fossil fuels will ultimately lower energy bills by harnessing the sun and wind, provide significant health benefits and stave off global warming. The allure of green energy is so appealing that President Biden earmarked hundreds of billions of dollars in his Inflation Reduction Act to subsidize the industry, billions of which will go to prop up nuclear power plants. Gov. Hochul throwing her support behind New York’s four nuclear plants angered many, particularly the Democrats who for years have railed against the industry.
Ratepayers in New York are going to need the federal subsidies since their elected leaders have mandated 70 percent renewable electricity by 2030 and zero emissions shortly thereafter, an astounding goal given that demand for electricity is expected to double by 2050.
“The costs of incentivizing renewable electricity development and transmission upgrades are borne almost exclusively by New York’s utility customers through a charge per kilowatt hour of electricity consumed,” confirmed state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli in a recent report. He flagged the state’s green ambitions, stating, “New York’s energy goals are attainable, but require careful attention and management to address challenges, meet ambitious deadlines and avoid future pitfalls.”
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New York City “supports efforts to transform our electric system away from fossil fuels to sustainable, carbon-free technologies,” said an official with the administration of Mayor Eric Adams. “However, the city is very concerned that the cost of utility service is becoming unaffordable for many New Yorkers.”