“Our concern and my concern is taking off any clean energy options off of the table this early in the transition is our biggest concern,” Wynter said. A halt to the continued buildout of gas infrastructure is a key part of the draft climate plan. National Grid opposed a measure to ban fossil fuel use in new construction as part of the state budget passed earlier this month. The state Legislature has been pursuing a measure to ban fossil fuel use in new construction in New York. It calls for 75 percent renewable gas in the pipeline system by 2050. The pathway cited by the company calls for electrifying more than 90 percent of buildings, but would leave gas in place as a backup on cold winter days. The company relied on a Massachusetts analysis to make the cost claim. National Grid’s vision said their approach would be more affordable for customers and require a less extensive buildout of the electric grid. Hybrid options would be reserved for larger commercial or institutional buildings. Just 7 percent would use alternative fuels. Even under a proposal with higher use of alternative fuels such as hydrogen and renewable gas, 89 percent of buildings would need to be electrified to achieve the state’s goals, according to the state’s plan. In all pathways outlined to achieve the reductions in emissions required by law, electrification of nearly the entire building stock is the focus. Buildings are the largest source of emissions in New York. The state’s draft climate plan does not envision any significant role for the gas system or hybrid heating options. The hybrid option could lower upfront costs for smaller electric heat pumps that would still supply cooling and heating benefits in more moderate temperatures.
The gas system would gradually downsize and transition to using 20 percent green hydrogen, with increasing amount of renewable gas making up the remainder, the company estimated. National Grid’s vision calls for half of buildings to use electric heat pumps a quarter to remain on a “fossil free” gas system and the remaining quarter to use electric most of the time with “fossil free” gas backups on the coldest winter days.Įnergy efficiency would reduce demand. National Grid is proposing a “fossil free” gas system to continue providing heat and energy to its customers across the Northeast. “Renewable natural gas is a way of capturing those methane emissions that would occur naturally in water treatment facilities, at landfills, on farms, and instead of it venting into the atmosphere, us capturing it, repurposing it for use in the network, and then it displaces geological natural gas.” What National Grid is calling for “We believe this is something that has to be relooked at in New York state,” he said. Wynter said no other state uses the 20-year global warming potential and treats renewable natural gas nearly the same as geologic gas. National Grid’s plan also doesn’t account for the carbon dioxide emitted when renewable gas is burned the same way New York does. That includes a change to how the warming impact of greenhouse gasses is evaluated, with National Grid preferring a longer time horizon that gives less weight to the impact of methane - the molecule they want to continue delivering to customers.
The company said its plan can slash emissions from its system in line with New York’s emissions mandate, but the analysis appears to rest on rewriting the hard-fought climate law that New York legislators passed in 2019. The U.K.-based utility also released a similar plan for its Massachusetts business on Tuesday.
#NATIONAL GRID GAS PLUS#
National Grid serves about 1.9 million gas customers in parts of New York City and on Long Island, plus 600,000 gas and 1.6 million electric customers upstate.
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