NYISO BLOG

State and federal policies promoting renewable energy and decarbonization of the grid are driving historic investments in the electric system. Here in New York, a record number of new wind, solar, and battery storage facilities are seeking to connect to the electric grid.

We know the electric system is essential to the state’s economy and provides for the health and safety of all New Yorkers. We also know that delivering a cleaner, greener grid of the future is just as important. State climate policies to address extreme weather require a decarbonized electric system by 2040. Reaching that mandate while keeping the system reliable is at the heart of all that we do.

New York’s recent peak day for electricity consumption came during a heatwave, as millions of people relied on their air conditioners to keep cool. That’s not unusual. However, some of the circumstances leading up to that day still provided a challenge.  

Reaching a 100% emission-free grid by 2040 is an ambitious goal; the challenge of our lifetime.

When the NYISO was first created more than twenty years ago to run the power grid and wholesale electric markets for New York, it was structured as an independent entity serving under a transparent, shared governance platform approved and overseen by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). An independent approach, it was believed, would best serve the interests of consumers and system reliability while also preventing any one entity or industry from unduly influencing operation of the system or market outcomes.

On August 14, 2003, a transmission line fault in Ohio caused by contact with a tree cascaded into what would become one of the largest outages in North American history plunging more than 50 million people in eight states and Ontario into darkness.

In our latest podcast, we sat down with Rana Mukerji, NYISO’s SVP of Market Structures, to learn about his journey from growing up in Calcutta, India to becoming widely regarded as one of the ­­industry's leading designers of electricity markets. We ask Rana about his past career experience working for General Electric and ABB, and how the markets must evolve to accommodate a new set of renewable resources while keeping the grid reliable.

On July 14, 2023, the New York ISO issued its Short-Term Assessment of Reliability for the second quarter of 2023 (Q2 STAR). The Q2 STAR assessed conditions on the bulk electric system in New York over a five-year study period of April 15, 2023, through April 15, 2028, considering forecasts of peak power demand, planned upgrades to the transmission system, and changes to the generation mix over the next five years.

For some time now, the NYISO has been reporting on declining reliability margins on New York’s grid, noting that New York City, in particular, is at increased risk of outages as soon as 2025. On July 14, 2023, we published the findings from our second quarter 2023 Short-Term Assessment of Reliability (STAR) report. We found that through updates to our analysis margins in New York City disappear altogether in summer 2025. This required us to declare a “reliability need” in order to avoid outages and disruptions to New Yorkers’ power supply. But, how does the NYISO identify these types of concerns?

New York State has embarked on an ambitious journey towards a zero-emissions power grid by 2040. The timeframe seems so distant and the goal so overwhelming that it’s hard to know sometimes if we’re making progress. While plenty of work remains to decarbonize the grid, in some ways many of the small steps the state has already taken are contributing to significant changes in how the grid is supplied.

Maintaining a reliable energy system requires that enough power generating capacity is installed system-wide to meet projected electricity demand and reliability requirements.

In our previous blog post that looked at the NYISO’s Public Policy Transmission Planning Process, we mentioned three transmission projects that will help deliver clean energy to the grid of the future. In this post, we'll take a closer look at the Empire State Line and the AC Transmission Projects.

As public policies continue to shape the grid of the future, the need to invest in the transmission system has never been greater. The good news is that a historic level of investment is underway, with projects recently completed or under construction that will deliver more clean energy to consumers while enhancing grid reliability. However, to meet decarbonization goals, even more investment will be necessary as discussed in the NYISO’s System and Resource Outlook, a 2022 study that looked at potential resource development over the next 20 years.

The NYISO’s wholesale markets are designed to choose the most cost-efficient mix of energy to meet consumer demand and maintain reliability of the electric system. As summarized in our recent blog The Capacity Market's Role in Grid Reliability: Frequently Asked Questions, the NYISO capacity market is the means by which utilities and other electricity providers purchase sufficient supply to meet expected peak demand and reliability requirements.

At the NYISO, keeping the electric grid reliable will always be job one, managing the flow of electricity around the clock, every day of the year.

The NYISO’s capacity market supports reliability and cost efficiency through competitive auctions in which Market Participants meet resource adequacy requirements. Those requirements are established each year by the New York State Reliability Council (NYSRC), which sets the Installed Reserve Margin (IRM) for the system. The IRM represents the minimum level of capacity, beyond the forecasted peak demand, which utilities and other energy providers must procure to serve consumers.

The NYISO’s capacity market supports reliability and cost efficiency through competitive auctions in which Market Participant’s meet resource adequacy requirements. Those requirements are established each year by the New York State Reliability Council (NYSRC), which sets the Installed Reserve Margin (IRM) for the system. The IRM represents the minimum level of capacity, beyond the forecasted peak demand, which utilities and other energy providers must procure to serve consumers.

Forecasting future demand on the power grid often begins by looking at historical data to understand how things like temperature changes can influence demand. For instance, on New York’s power grid, air conditioning is largely responsible for driving peak demand. As temperatures rise in the summer, air conditioning load increases. Understanding that relationship is important to prepare the grid to reliably meet peak demand conditions. Decades of historical data on how temperatures influence demand from air conditioning helps the NYISO accurately forecast future load based on expected and extreme temperature conditions.

We expect light when we flip a switch and our cell phones to charge when we plug them in. It seems simple enough, but the reality is that planning for electricity demand is a sophisticated process based on complex data sets from various sources.

Episode 26 of the Power Trends podcast delivers a change of pace for our listeners. In this episode, NYISO market mitigation economist Michelle Merlis discusses her long and challenging path to becoming a world-class trail runner.