Politics

Kauffman: Cuomo’s energy overhaul 'REV'ing up

Reforming the Energy Vision, the Cuomo administration’s ambitious effort to transform the electricity distribution and generation system in New York, has been taking important steps forward, the state’s top energy official said.

“This is not just about talk,” Richard Kauffman, the state’s chairman of energy and finance, said at City & State’s On Energy conference. “We can point to a record of stuff that we have been doing to bring this vision about.”

The REV initiative envisions a state-of-the-art grid with more distributed generation, which could reduce demand on the energy grid, widespread implementation of smart grid technology to more efficiently balance the energy load, and greater reliance on renewable energy. The plan could also save billions of dollars by reducing the need to build large new power plants or make other major capital investments, potentially saving money for customers as well.

But while many officials and industry experts are optimistic about Cuomo’s plans, some say it’s still unclear how much the comprehensive overhaul will cost, how it will be paid for, and when tangible improvements will be seen.

Some $30 billion will be needed on capital investment over the next 10 years, up from $17 billion over the past decade, Kauffman noted. Instead of investing all of that on maintaining an outdated system, he said, much of it should be spent instead on building out a new, more nimble system.

For example, Con Edison is already moving in that direction with a program underway in Brooklyn to better manage growing demand for electricity.

“Con Ed was going to have to spend over a billion dollars on a new substation,” Kauffman said. “Again, that substation would have about a 54 percent capacity utilization. Instead, Con Ed went out to the market with this problem of load growth, and instead what Con Ed is going to do is spend hundreds of millions of dollars less on distributed energy solutions that include on-site generation, energy efficiency and demand response.”

Kauffman also noted that the first set of REV rules have come out and that 11 demonstration projects with utilities and other third parties are moving forward, with more to be approved in coming months.

He also touted a number of ongoing initiatives that fall under the REV umbrella, including several programs spurring solar power, a state green bank designed to spur private sector investment in renewable energy, a micro-grid competition, and the Energy Highway, which aims to upgrade and expand the state’s aging transmission grid.

“I come from the private sector, and I know that there are some people that can be cynical about what government can get done -- one or two maybe in this room,” Kauffman said. “But I’d put this agenda of completed items against anything that I saw in my 30 years in the private sector before I joined government. We can and we will get things done.”

However, in a state Senate hearing several months ago in May, lawmakers said they wanted more concrete details about REV. At the City & State conference on Wednesday, Kauffman asserted that there had been confusion among state legislators over what the initiative was actually aimed at accomplishing.

“It’s not just about distributed solutions,” Kauffman said. “I think that’s what some of the lawmakers were concerned about. It’s about building this integrated grid, and that’s the kind of grid that we need to have. So it’s a balance between the strong, central station distribution and transmission backbone, and integrating distributed resources.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.