New York City’s relentlessly hot summer exposed the harsh reality of a power grid stretched to capacity: just as air conditioning became a necessity, New Yorkers were asked to reduce electricity use to help prevent outages. Demand for cooling is rising across the city and the nation, contributing to higher energy bills as households rely more on air conditioning during extreme heat.
But this isn’t just a summer problem anymore. As more people turn to modern, electric home heating, handling winter peaks will also become increasingly important for the reliability of our grid. In other words, the sky-high bills of summer will become the new year-round normal.
We need to make the grid and New Yorkers less vulnerable to these costly peaks in demand. And we have opportunities right here in New York City.
The city owns 14,900 parcels across the five boroughs, including municipal rooftops, parking lots, and fleet depots, that can be turned into hubs of clean energy production. Installing solar panels and battery storage will allow us to generate and store affordable, local energy. The move would be a critical victory in New York’s fight against the affordability crisis that has made the cost of everything higher.
City agencies should view the latest strain on the power grid, coupled with our historic affordability crisis, as a wakeup call to turn this potential into actual power. We can create a steady flow of solar and battery storage projects on municipal-owned land through a more streamlined permitting process, more efficient interconnection regulations, and by leveraging state and federal funding programs. Actions like these allow New York to be better prepared for when peak demand arises and ultimately, help reduce costs resulting in nearly $1 billion in statewide energy savings annually by 2035.
Generating clean power across the five boroughs has tremendous co-benefits. It would help enable the transition away from the high-cost, high-polluting power plants that kick on whenever energy demand hits peak levels. New Yorkers tired of astronomical energy bills will certainly welcome that relief when their bill arrives.
Curbing energy demand also requires us to close gaps in our usage. Weatherizing New York’s aging and drafty housing stock can lower energy consumption, improve comfort, and reduce the amount of electricity needed during extreme weather. Heat pumps can play an important role in that effort by providing efficient heating and cooling in a single system. While efficiency alone won’t solve this problem, it will certainly drive down demand.
During July’s heat wave, South Fork Wind generated nearly 10 gigawatt hours of power for Long Island’s grid to help manage peak demand. Con Edison recently deployed battery storage in Brooklyn to provide additional capacity during periods of peak demand. In a Queens apartment building, New York is piloting new room heat pumps that can be easily installed without expensive upgrades to make electrification accessible.
Renters and homeowners are participating in programs deploying micro-scale batteries to support the grid when needed. The city is also studying the feasibility of installing a thermal energy network under the revitalized Chambers St. subway station that will store excess summer heat and use it to warm buildings in the winter.
These technologies are no longer hypothetical. They are already being deployed across New York.
The next time temperatures soar to 100 degrees or plummet to 10, New Yorkers shouldn’t wonder if the power grid can keep up with air conditioners or heaters. They shouldn’t have to choose between their utility bill and their grocery bill. We already have the tools to build a cleaner, more reliable, and more affordable energy system.
Levine is New York City comptroller.