Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Discussion continued in the Buffalo Common Council chambers Tuesday regarding New York State's plans to phase out natural gas and make the shift to electric.
Representatives from National Fuel Gas and National Grid spoke before the Buffalo Common Council during a Community Development Committee meeting to address questions both residents and the committee have been inquiring about.
"We need a sensible approach and must be responsible in how we achieve this transition," said Ken Kujawa, National Grid's Western New York Director. "Achieving meaningful decarbonization will require significant investment in New York's electricity networks."
Kujawa detailed what National Grid is doing so far, saying; "Energy delivery to buy gas and networks to the state's building sector is three to four times the amount of energy delivered on the electric side. That's a lot of energy to shift. At the same time, we are transitioning to electric vehicles. No network that exists today is built to handle the anticipated increase in electric demand. That is why National Grid is already working to make changes to prepare the grid to meet the state's goals.
When it comes to upgrading our electricity networks, our state regulators have approved our CLCP local transmission investment strategy that will bring multiple benefits to our customer and communities, including increasing system load capacity and reliability, right sizing the grid for economic growth from clean energy industry and manufacturing over the coming decades on bottling renewable energy produced right here in New York, which will reduce the cost of renewable electricity for our customers, and enhancing grid resiliency in the face of increasing frequent extreme weather events, helping to ensure that power is there when our customers need it."
Councilman Ulysees Wingo asked if there been any conversations around providing renewable energy, such as solar power, energy and other thermal energy that can be used in place of natural gas.
Kujawa replied, saying, "We're going to continue to see renewable energy sources, whether it's at the individual customer level, or more on a larger scale, the CLCPA (Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act) envisions a transition to large scale renewables that will help meet the state's energy needs on a go forward basis over the course of the coming decades. The plan is ultimately to have all energy generated in New York state by the year 2040 come from renewable energy resources."
Kujawa said there are going to have to be major investments made into the grid before the grid can fully accommodate the transitions that state's plan is hoping for.
"We're studying that today, looking at where we have to make investments. Our transmission system, to be able to move renewable energy across the state, to areas where it's going to be needed, and then we have to look at the local level, where we operate our distribution system, to make sure that we have sufficient capacity at our stations, and on our circuits in order to meet what we anticipate to be increasing customer electric demand."
Brian Welsch, Assistant Vice President of Rates & Regulatory Affairs at National Fuel Gas Company was also in attendance and addressed the issue as well.
"National Fuel believes that electrifying everything, at any cost, is not our only or best option. Our plan is an 'all the above' hybrid approach that strategically leverages both the electric and the natural gas delivery systems. This can achieve the climate actions emissions reduction goals, while being significantly less costly than the electrify everything approach. Our plan also preserves customer choice, and avoids taking unnecessary risks that would endanger reliability if we were to move to a single, less resilient energy source. In other words, two energy systems are more reliable and resilient than one and we think our customers agree."
Community Development Committee Chair Joseph Golombek, who wrote the resolution, is still looking for New York State representatives to come to Buffalo to address the council.
"I simply wanted New York State to come in here and explain what this proposal is, how it's going to work and how it is and how it is not going to impact our residents. So in that regard, I'm very disappointed that New York State could not send a representative here. I hope that they will in two weeks, we'll keep inviting them to every committee meeting forever if need be until they show up."
