On a daily basis, New York City consumes 11, 000 Megawatt-hours of electricity. One megawatt is equal to the amount of energy required to power 100 households! (1 megawatt = 1,000 kilowatts = 1,000,000 watts) So, given that New York consumes 11 billion watt-hours per day, solarize those rooftops!
What is New York City’s power consumption?
NYC consumes roughly the same amount of energy as the entire state of Massachusetts, yet occupies only a third of the space! There just isn’t enough area within the congested five boroughs to generate all of the clean energy we require. On average, New York City consumes 8,000 megawatts of electricity. When New Yorkers switch on their air conditioners in the summer, citywide demand can reach 11,500 megawatts. We will need to develop new transmission lines to carry clean energy into NYC in order to fulfill our 100% clean energy objective while meeting NYC’s electrical demands.
Interconnect large-scale wind and hydro
By 2035, New York State plans to install 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind, with the city aiming to connect it directly to the city. In addition to helping to green the grid, the offshore wind industry has the potential to create thousands of new jobs in New York City and revitalize our working waterfronts, as evidenced by the efforts currently underway to convert the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal into an offshore wind staging site.
Hydropower, unlike intermittent renewables that create power only when the sun shines or the wind blows, is constantly on, making it a highly controllable and stable clean energy resource. While safeguarding the rights of indigenous First Nations, our proposal will tap into existing hydroelectric resources without requiring the construction of new dams.
How much electricity does New York City consume each year?
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC) predicted in March 2015 that New York City’s population would reach 8.7 million by 2025, up 160,000 from the Census Bureau’s 2016 estimate. According to the New York Metropolitan Transportation Commission, employment in the city will continue to rise until 2025, with a total of 166,000 new jobs, including self-employed employees. The pace of job growth in the 2015-2020 period is expected to be 0.5 percent per year, far below the rate of increase seen during the recovery period from 2009 to 2016. Between 2020 and 2025, the NYMTC anticipates that employment growth would decrease even more, to 0.2 percent per year.
New York City’s annual energy consumption is predicted to drop from 52.5 Terawatt-hours in 2016 to 50.6 Terawatt-hours by 2027, a drop of little under 0.4 percent per year over the forecast period. This prediction incorporates estimates of future contributions to supply from alternative sources such as behind-the-meter solar PV and distributed generation, as well as current and predicted changes in achieved levels of energy efficiency.
Summer peak demand in New York City is expected to climb by 1,798 MW by 2027, according to the NYISO’s prediction, before energy efficiency and other measures, for an annual growth rate of.48 percent. Summer peak demand would be 12,040 MW, an increase of 0.33 percent per year throughout the predicted period, when energy efficiency, solar PV, distributed generation (DG), and other behind-the-meter efforts are included in.
Based on achievements by that year in energy efficiency measures, such as improved energy appliances, which will save 283 MW; increases in solar PV, which will contribute 192 MW of electricity to the city’s system; and distributed generation and other behind-the-meter measures, which will contribute 247 MW of power, NYISO estimates that 726 MW can be deducted from the unconstrained forecast of summer peak demand of 12,788 MW in 2027.
These energy savings, if fully realized, might assist alleviate, but not entirely counterbalance, the predicted increases in electricity demand and supply shortfall arising from Indian Point’s scheduled closure in 2021. Additional electrical supply is also required to close the gap and meet predicted demand.
There are no new producing facilities or transmission networks planned for New York City between 2017 and 2027, with the exception of 24 MW of modifications by Con Edison to their existing plant in the city.
Outside of New York City, the only near-term generation facilities are under construction or in the planning stages. CPV Valley, a new 650 MW natural gas plant in Orange County, is under construction and expected to be completed in 2018; while Cricket Valley, a newly announced 1,100 MW natural gas plant in Dutchess County, is expected to be completed in mid-2019.
Natural gas demand in National Grid’s Brooklyn Union zone is expected to rise 0.84 percent per year between 2015 and 2020, and 0.86 percent per year in the following five-year forecast period.
Con Edison’s March 2016 Gas Long Range Plan predicts a 2.3 percent annual rise in natural gas demand across its region from 2015 to 2020, and a 1.5 percent annual increase from 2020 to 2035. Continued oil-to-gas conversions in major buildings, demand for new CHP projects, and growing usage from new residential and commercial developments are all contributing to the rise. As a result, Con Edison predicts the need for additional pipeline capacity.
One upgrade request and three large new natural gas pipeline projects are in the final permitting or early proposal stages.
- Millennium Pipeline has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to improve its Eastern System, which will build around eight miles of pipeline in Orange County, New York, and provide an additional 233,000 DT/day to the New York area by the fall of 2018.
- The PennEast Pipeline, a 114-mile project with a 36-inch diameter, will connect Marcellus shale gas in Eastern Pennsylvania to Transco in Mercer County, New Jersey. Many shippers, including Con Edison, will receive one billion cubic feet each day from this. In the second half of 2018, service is planned to begin.
- The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is a proposed 300-mile pipeline from West Virginia to the mid-Atlantic region with a 42-inch diameter capacity. Despite the fact that this pipeline does not directly link to New York City, it provides access to many supply sites, including Con Edison. The MVP is projected to be operational by late 2018 if all requirements are met.
- On March 27, 2017, Transco submitted an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for its Northeast Supply Enhancement project. Through the Rockaway Lateral, this project will add 400,000 DT/day to National Grid’s distribution system at Floyd Bennett Field. The project is planned to be operational by the end of 2019.
While the first three of these projects would increase supply diversity and improve price differentials, only the most recent Transco project would add natural gas to New York City, where demand is high and expanding. As a result, Con Edison predicts that additional gas pipeline capacity into New York City and Westchester County will be required between 2017 and 2027.
Con Edison forecasts that demand for natural gas throughout its territory will increase by 2.3 percent per year in the 2015-2020 period, and by 1.5 percent per year to 2035
There are no plans for significant new transmission investments to provide electricity to New York City. Downstate New York and New York City will be unable to access any of the new investments in hydropower, solar, and wind power emerging from Upstate and Western New York unless improvements to existing sources of downstate transmission and new transmission capacity are made.
“The uncertainty of prospective developer projects reaching commercial operation would make designing the future system topology a hard and dynamic endeavor,” Con Edison writes in its Long Range Transmission Plan from October 2016.
13
In a public letter to NYISO on September 30, 2016, the NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability makes a compelling case for new transmission lines to New York City so that the city can participate in renewable wind, solar, and hydro resources in Upstate New York and Canada. This is deemed critical for the city’s long-term electricity needs as well as its goals of reducing carbon emissions through the use of renewable energy.14
In a press release dated October 13, 2016, the NYS PSC acknowledged the need for new transmission capacity in Western New York and across the state, and “directedto move forward with evaluating and selecting the most efficient or cost-effective transmission project to make it easier for renewable energy, such as hydro power, to flow across New York State.”
NYISO is examining potential transmission upgrades to address transmission chokepoints in the mid-Hudson Valley as part of its Public Policy Transmission Planning process, but it has not yet announced any firm plans for new investment or a determination on the additional megawatts that would be made available through improved transmission.
Two large transmission investment projects into New York City promise a significant increase in electricity to the city by or before 2027.
- The Champlain Hudson Power Express is a 330-mile HVDC submerged cable project that might transmit 1,000 MW of renewable energy from Qubec to Astoria, Queens, beneath Lake Champlain and the Hudson River. This project has received all necessary permits, and engineering details are now being finalized. Construction on the transmission line might begin in 2017 and be completed by late 2021. 15
- The proposed Empire State Connector, a 260-mile HVDC submerged cable project that would run beneath the Erie Canal and the Hudson River and terminate in either Brooklyn or the Bronx, would provide 1,000 MW of renewable energy. This concept is currently in the planning stages, with final permitting still pending. The developer, oneGRID, intends to file Article VII with the New York State Public Service Commission in the fall of 2017. 16
Because they employ direct current (DC) rather than alternating current (AC) for transmission, these two projects, if completed, would provide 2,000 MW of power directly to New York City and count as “in-city generating.” They would also allow the city to profit from renewable energy investments undertaken to the north of its borders.
In terms of transmission facility planning, New York State and City fall behind other states.
The proposed Plains and Eastern Line in the Southwest, for example, would transport 4,000 megawatts of wind power from the Oklahoma panhandle to the Tennessee Valley Authority. This transmission system would use direct current (DC) to power over one million residences in the mid-south and southeast of the United States.
China has already established several “supergrids” carrying DC power with capacities ranging from 6,400 to 7,200 MW. Several additional big projects in China are currently underway or in the planning stages, including a 3,400-kilometer grid connecting Xinjiang and Anhui provinces and carrying 12,000 MW of DC power. In India, Brazil, and Germany, similar large-scale grids are being built or planned. 17
One of the remaining challenges in providing electricity from intermittent sources, such as solar or wind, is the issue of storage, which allows power to be made available during off-hours.
14 Letter to Zachary Smith, NYISO, from Kevin Lang, Couch White LLP, and Anthony J. Fiore, Energy Regulatory Affairs, NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, September 30, 2016.
Order Granting Champlain Hudson Express Inc. a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need to Construct and Operate a Transmission Project, 15 NYS PSC, Case 10-7-0139 (April 18, 2013).
In a month, how much electricity does New York City consume?
The total energy utilized per capita and across all sectors in New York in 2016 was 185 million British Thermal Units (Btu), which equals 54,218 kWh or 54.2 Megawatt-hours, according to the EIA (MWh). Out of the 51 states and the District of Columbia, New York is ranked 50th. Rohde Island, with a per capita use of 176 million Btu (MMBtu) or 51.6 MWh, is the only state with a lower consumption. The overall consumption per capita in the United States in 2016 was 301 million Btu (88.2 MWh).
When it comes to residential energy consumption, New York residents used an average of 572 kWh per month in 2017, which was surpassed by Hawaii, which used an average of 506 kWh per month. Louisiana is at the bottom of the list, with an average monthly use of 1,187 kWh.
In 2016, New York’s 19.5 million residents consumed a little more than 1,035 trillion Btu, or more than 303.3 Terawatt-hours (TWh), compared to 20,050 trillion Btu consumed by the entire US residential sector. According to the United States Census Bureau, New York consumes 5.16 percent of the nation’s residential energy consumption, which is close to the state’s population of around 328.4 million people (February 14, 2019).
In 2017, the total residential natural gas usage in the United States was 4,412,282 million cubic feet (MMCF), with 432,451 MMCF consumed by New York’s 4.5 million residents. Residential customers in New York account for 6.5 percent of the total 69 million people who use natural gas in the United States.
Demand
- Despite having fewer than 5% of the world’s population, the United States consumes about 16% of global energy and accounts for 15% of global GDP. In comparison, the European Union has 6% of the global population, uses 4.2 percent of its energy, and accounts for 15% of its GDP, whereas China has 18% of the global population, consumes 20% of its energy, and accounts for 16% of its GDP. 6,7
- Each day, the United States consumes 2.3 gallons of oil, 7.89 pounds of coal, and 252 cubic feet of natural gas per person.
- 5,6
- Electricity use in the home is 12.1 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per person per day.
- 5,6
In New York City, how much does a kWh cost?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States of America is the source of this information. In February 2022, households in the New York area spent 19.6 cents per kWh for electricity, which was 32.4 percent higher than the national average of 14.8 cents per kWh. Electricity costs in the New York area were 59.9% higher than the national average in February.
Where does New York City obtain its power?
Since 2012, natural gas, nuclear power, and hydroelectricity have combined to generate about nine-tenths of New York State’s utility-scale (1 megawatt and bigger) electricity net generation. The balance is supplied by non-hydroelectric renewable energy sources such as wind, biomass, and solar. 22 Natural gas is used to power five of the state’s ten largest power plants, accounting for more than two-thirds of the state’s total producing capacity. 23,24 Natural gas was used to power two-fifths of New York’s utility-scale in-state electricity in 2020. 25 Natural gas-fired power generating units with dual-fuel capability can switch fuels in the case of a supply disruption, which is especially important during the winter months when natural gas pipelines are extremely crowded. 26,27 About three-fifths of the state’s natural gas-fired capacity is dual-fuel, allowing it to burn both natural gas and petroleum products. 28 However, that potential is underutilized, with petroleum accounting for less than 0.2 percent of the state’s electricity generation in 2020. 29
For the first time in New York’s history, renewable energy generated more electricity than nuclear power facilities in 2020.
30 Hydroelectric power accounted for over a quarter of all utility-scale net generation in New York. Almost all of the rest of the state’s renewable energy came from wind, biomass, and solar facilities. Solar PV generation from utility-scale and small-scale (less than 1 megawatt) solar photovoltaic (PV) producers has expanded significantly over the last decade, surpassing biomass generation for the first time in 2019. Nuclear power will generate roughly three-tenths of New York’s net generation in 2020. 31 In 2019, Indian Point, one of the state’s four nuclear power reactors, accounted for over two-fifths of the state’s nuclear generating capacity, producing 37 percent of the state’s nuclear energy and 13 percent of the state’s total net generation. 32,33,34 However, one of Indian Point’s two reactors shut down at the end of April 2020, while the other shut down at the end of April 2021. The remaining three nuclear power facilities in the state have a combined generating capacity of around 3,200 megawatts. 35
Coal provided only a modest portion of New York’s power. Coal-fired production, which contributed roughly one-sixth of the state’s generation two decades ago, provided only 0.1 percent of New York’s in-state electricity in 2020, when the state’s final coal-fired plant, on the banks of Lake Ontario, shuttered. 36,37
New York’s state wholesale power markets and electric grid operations are managed by NYISO, an independent electric transmission system operator. Normally, electricity flows east and south toward the state’s high-demand areas, such as New York City and Long Island. 38,39 New York often consumes more electricity than it creates, therefore it imports electricity from surrounding states and Canada. 40
New York has one of the lowest per capita electricity use in the country, with only California, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts having lower consumption in 2019.
41 In 2020, the business sector accounted for 49 percent of the state’s retail electricity sales. Only one out of every eight households uses electricity to heat their homes, accounting for roughly 38%, and the industrial sector for about 11%. The rest was utilised by the transportation industry. 42,43 New York has the greatest energy retail sales to the transportation industry of any state, accounting for nearly 40% of the nation’s total sales to that sector in 2020, thanks in part to its enormous electrified mass public rail networks. 44,45 In addition, the state has about 3,000 public and private electric vehicle charging stations. 46 COVID-19 mitigation initiatives contributed to a 4% drop in overall power retail sales in New York in 2020 compared to 2019. 47,48 During the pandemic, only the residential sector showed an increase in sales as more people worked from home. 49,50
Which city consumes the most energy?
Homes in hot, sunny Phoenix, AZ, consume twice as much electricity as homes in Salt Lake City, UT, and more than three times as much as homes in San Jose, CA.
How much power does Times Square consume?
7 – Every year, Times Square consumes 161 megawatts of electricity. That’s enough energy to power about 161,000 average American homes and twice the amount needed to power all of Las Vegas’ casinos.
How much energy does Manhattan consume on a daily basis?
On a daily basis, New York City consumes 11, 000 Megawatt-hours of electricity. One megawatt is equal to the amount of energy required to power 100 households! 1 Megawatt equals 1,000 KiloWatts, or 1,000,000 Watts.
What percentage of the electricity in New York City comes from renewable sources?
The Public Service Commission has issued a significant decision that lays out a plan for the state to meet its ambitious target of obtaining 70% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Here is a link to a press statement outlining the order.
How Did We Get Here?
Let’s start with a quick recap. Governor Cuomo signed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) into law in July 2019, establishing New York State as a national leader in expanding sustainable energy and combating climate change in general. The bill calls for a 40 percent decrease in statewide greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and an 85 percent reduction by 2050, with net zero emissions by that time. No state has set a more stringent goal for reducing emissions. The state must also comply with the following requirements under the law:
- by 2030, receive 70% of its electricity from renewable sources (and that the electric sector be emissions-free by 2040)
- By 2025, 6,000 MW of distributed solar (the type that often goes on rooftops) will have been added (a doubling of the current amount)
- Through energy efficiency improvements, a statewide objective of reducing energy usage by 185 trillion British thermal units (BTUs) from the state’s 2025 estimate has been set.
Meeting these goals will result in a significant reduction in fossil fuel generation, which is harmful to New Yorkers’ health and exacerbates the effects of climate change, while also bringing considerable job and grid advantages.
Getting to 70 Percent Clean Electricity Will Be a Heavy Lift
It will be difficult to achieve 70 percent renewable energy in the power sector by 2030. Currently, renewable energy accounts for around 28% of New York’s total electricity, with the vast bulk (about 80%) coming from massive legacy hydropower plants owned and controlled by the New York Power Authority. Scaling up renewables to 70% in ten years will necessitate a large influx of new clean generation between now and then.