NY Gov Says Clean Energy Innovation Needed to Advance State’s Economic Development Goals

SYRACUSE, N.Y — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told attendees at a state-sponsored future energy economy summit on Thursday that if the state is going to achieve its economic development goals, it’s going to need to deploy more clean energy faster.

“It’s a complex challenge,” Hochul said, likening the current state of affairs to the Industrial Revolution, a period when Thomas Edison built the nation’s first commercial power station in lower Manhattan and illuminated the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, astounding attendees at the World’s Fair over a century ago.

Meeting it, the governor said, will take “bringing together people who know how to innovate, and [know how] to bring together the clean energy infrastructure and build it at an incredible pace, because we are going to need more and more power.”

Driving that need is an economic development agenda that includes having New York State become a center for microchip manufacturing and future advances in artificial intelligence.

“The Erie Canal corridor was a powerhouse,” she said, again harkening back to an era when upstate New York was at the forefront of energy innovation.

“We’re going to bring it back in our lifetime,” she promised. 

“In fact it’s happening right now,” she added, mentioning, among other things, the ongoing construction of a 330-mile underground transmission line that will bring hydroelectric power from Quebec, Canada, down to New York City.

But, Hochul said, there’s far more to do.

“The challenges we are called on to face today are not dissimilar to those faced 100 to 150 years ago, when the government, private sector and labor were trying to figure out how to power the Industrial Revolution so we could seize the jobs and other opportunities it promised to create.

“But it’s also important to remember, that we’re not just called on to solve today’s problems; we have to think of the foundation we’re creating for the New York State of 40 or 50 years from now,” she said.

“That’s the purpose of this gathering,” Hochul said. “Help us innovate the solutions that people haven’t even thought of yet, but that you’re smart enough and creative enough to imagine. Help us figure out how to balance [a transition to] emissions-free energy sources with launching the economy of the future.”

About 600 people attended the summit, in-person and virtually, which was convened at Hochul’s direction to explore the intersection of energy policy and economic development.

It was timed to help inform the next meeting of the U.S. Climate Alliance, the bipartisan coalition of governors working to address climate change, on which Hochul serves as cochair.

Richard Kauffman, chair of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, also chaired Thursday’s event, which featured speakers and input from his agency as well as the state Department of Public Service, the Empire State Development group, New York Power Authority, Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of Health, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services and Department of Labor. 

Among the takeaways from the summit were the need to prioritize building out New York’s renewable energy grid; to support research, market development and commercial demonstration of new emissions-free resources of energy; and to identify, leverage and maximize the potential federal funding opportunities.

State officials also vowed to complete an ongoing Public Service Commission review of New York’s large-scale renewable energy program, known as the Clean Energy Standard, by early 2025.

At the same time, they said, they would focus on reviewing and, if necessary, revising the state’s renewable energy deployment goals, while also advancing interconnection reforms and the implementation of the RAPID Act, a regulation intended to speed up environmental reviews and permitting of major renewable energy and electric transmission facilities.

“This is big, this is hard, but it’s so worthwhile,” Hochul said of the agenda.

Julie Tighe, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters, agreed.

“To transition our entire economy from one that runs on fossil fuels to one that runs on clean energy is the great challenge of our time and one that requires an all-hands-on-deck approach,” Tighe said.

“We applaud Gov. Hochul for creating the space for industry leaders, policy experts, and decision makers to join together to envision what’s needed — from technology to regulations to investments — to stave off the worst impacts of climate change and secure a clean energy future for all New Yorkers,” she said.

“Today’s Future Energy Economy Summit has gone a long way in identifying the tools we will need to take our renewable energy program to the next level and further unlock the economic opportunities and family-sustaining union careers it creates,” said Gary LaBarbera, president of the New York State Building Trades, which represents over 200,000 unionized construction workers in the state.

“As we continue to pursue green infrastructure projects that push us towards our standard-setting clean energy goals and pave accessible paths to the middle class, it is important that we continue to explore new and effective avenues for deploying these initiatives,” he said.

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