After 33 years of installing wind and solar, Germany is not even close to eliminating its reliance on fossil fuels. It’s only a question of which country they import the fossil fuels from. That used to be Russia. Going forward, that will be Qatar. They have realized that the policy proposed in 1990 is untenable and they are making arrangements for alternative energy sources.
Read NY Times Article: Construction to Break German Dependence on Russian Gas Hits a Snag: Wartime Bombs
Fortunately for NY State, Pennsylvania is not likely to go to war with a sovereign nation requiring an natural gas embargo. However, NY State’s energy policy is almost the equivalent of a self imposed embargo and will leave the state drastically short of energy in the not too distant future.
If Germany hasn’t made it work in 33 years, why does NY State believe they can get it to work in 17 years. In the interim, the CLCPA’s prescribed policies, compounded by NY City Building Policies, NY Heats and the Build Public Renewables Act, are going to slow the rate of renewable installation, increase electric load, and result in increased fossil fuel use and the associated carbon emissions.
The first symptom of that was the NYISO warning late last year that the downstate utility system would be under stress through 2033. The second symptom was the NYISO stating last week that they can’t close the dirty peaker plants in 2025 as scheduled. The third symptom is the cancellation of renewable installations and the request by the bidders to renegotiate the Offshore wind bids. In the interim, no one has figured out how to interconnect the 9GW of Offshore Wind even if it is built.
The proponents of the CLCPA claimed that this wonderful policy was going to promote climate justice and equitability for poorer neighborhoods. The reality is that it is going to saddle the poorer neighborhoods with dirty power plants for years into the future, drastically raise energy prices so people can’t afford to heat their homes, and create energy shortages that are likely to kill many people. More shoes are going to drop before this is over if the state doesn’t reassess this lunacy. We told them in 2019 that this would be the result of their policy but they chose to view the world through the rose colored glasses of the environmental acolytes.
However, that is what results from the state delegating its utility policy to climate scientists and those same environmental acolytes that have no understanding of how the system works.