POWERING THE FUTURE
ISO-New England: Renewables to play bigger role in power generation
A new report released by the operator of New England’s electric grid said the generation of renewable energy will ultimately replace the burning of fossil fuels as primary source of electricity to meet customer demand.
Officials at ISO New England aren’t predicting when renewable resources will replace fossil fuels in generating enough energy to meet baseload power demands. But in the grid operator’s annual Regional Electricity Outlook, officials said that as of March, two-thirds of the new generation resources or 66 percent of what is being proposed is wind power followed by 9 percent solar.
Electricity that is stored on batteries accounts for 21 percent of the projects being proposed. New generation projects that will use of natural gas, which is currently the predominant power generation fuel in the region, account for only 3 percent of what is being proposed.
“Over the course of the next two decades, our region’s electric grid will likely more than double in size, expanding to incorporate vast amounts of renewable resources and serve increasing demand for electricity as more sectors decarbonize,” Gordon van
Welie, president and CEO of ISO New England, said in a letter issued jointly with Cheryl LaFleur, chairwoman of the grid operator’s board of directors. “This transformation is already well underway in the region’s power system, and the impact it will have on New England for generations to come cannot be overstated.”
Efforts to reduce the carbon footprint in the six-state region will put additional demands on the electric grid, through the expanded use of technologies like heat pumps and electric vehicles.
In addition to operating the power grid, ISO New England also oversees the region’s wholesale electric market and officials said how renewable generation projects are paid for is likely to change as well.
Currently, nearly all large-scale renewable projects are developed through state-sponsored long-term contracts funded by ratepayers. Creating a marketplace that compensates renewable projects for their environmental attributes would shift the financial risk from ratepayers to developers, according to ISO New England officials, and maintain the competitive forces that have benefited New England consumers for 25 years.