With that lesson in mind, the state is aiming to get ahead on adapting to climate change by modernizing and integrating renewables into its power grid and making its infrastructure better able to withstand extreme weather. And, New York is likely to do that in a way that influences smart grid development in the rest of the country, experts say.
In March, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the state will soon open a new laboratory, called the Advanced Grid Innovation Laboratory for Energy, which will research and develop new smart grid technology that will modernize the state’s electric power system. Modernization will allow the state’s power grid to handle more renewables, so-called microgrids, and electric vehicle charging stations. A specific location and planned opening date for the lab has not yet been announced.
Cuomo followed that with another announcement this week that the state will invest $160 million to help expand larger wind farms, fuel cells, biomass power plants, biogas and small hydropower projects across the state. Both announcements are part of the state’s Reforming the Energy Vision plan, which aims to work out the regulatory kinks involved in expanding renewables in New York and including them in the electric grid.
One of the primary goals of the proposed grid innovation lab is to help New York utilities move from centralized power systems, in which large power plants supply power to everyone on the grid and that can cause widespread issues when knocked out, to one that can accommodate smaller local systems. Those systems could be fed by small wind, solar and other renewable power generators, said Julie Anne Sullivan, spokeswoman for the New York Power Authority, which is building the new lab with the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute.
Read more at New York’s Smart Grid Research May Shape U.S.
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