Con Edison Launches Campaign to Deflect Blame for Coming Energy Disaster – Are You Interested in It?
The electric utility of most of New York City is Consolidated Edison, often shortened to Con Edison, or even Con Ed. When I moved to New York nearly 50 years ago, Con Ed was what they called “vertically integrated,” meaning it was responsible for every aspect of the electric system, from power generation, to wholesale distribution. high voltage, up to individual home delivery. That ended in the late 1990s. As part of the deregulation of that period, Con Ed sold almost all of its power generation facilities to independent operators, who People have since had to bid for access to the grid. Today Con Ed operates almost entirely in distribution, including both wholesale and retail.
Although it no longer generates electricity, Con Ed still has capable grid engineers working for it, and it is in a position to have a bird’s-eye view of New York’s so-called energy transition. Clearly, they are very well informed about the looming energy disaster in the state. Additionally, of all the companies involved in providing electricity in New York City, Con Ed is the primary company that has direct contact with most end consumers. They are like a sitting duck waiting to admit their mistakes when everything falls apart.
So let’s say you’re Con Ed. What is your strategy for dealing with what you know is an impending disaster?
If you found yourself in their position, there would only be one honest and just thing to do. You will sound the alarm, the louder the better. You will shout from the rooftops that this cannot be done. You will warn of the danger to human life that predominantly wind/solar generation systems can shut down completely for weeks in the cold winter.
Instead, sadly to say, Con Ed’s strategy is exactly what you’d expect from people with no backbone and no principles. Today, the President of Con Ed, a man named Matthew Ketschke, wrote an op-ed in the New York Daily News titled “NYC’s power source must be clean and reliable.” (unfortunately behind a paywall, but I’ll quote some important parts). Instead of leveling with everyone, Ketschke took the path of bowing to the political powers of the day, while also trying to create a narrative that deflected the blame as best he could from his company. . Oh, and while also preparing to make big money by building huge amounts of new transmission capacity, with guaranteed profits from ratepayers, that will only exist to serve a few generators Nearly useless wind and solar will contribute almost nothing to useful electricity.
Before going into details, I would like to say a few words on Daily News. It was once the country’s largest-circulation newspaper, with more than 2 million daily subscribers in the 1940s and 1950s. Since then it has steadily shrunk, now with fewer than 200,000 subscribers. . Unlike the New York Post, which has no paywall, the Daily News is almost entirely paywalled. As a result, I rarely look at it. Its editorials essentially follow the latest orthodoxy. (For example, today there was an editorial criticizing the Supreme Court’s contraband case and another advocating free public transit fares for low-income people.) Commendably, however, the Daily News has recently published a number of commentaries on both sides of New York’s energy policy issues.
Here’s how Ketschke got started:
New York’s energy system is at an inflection point. Energy use is increasing – but because of climate change temperature and storm frequency. Unfortunately, generators have been slow to meet the growing demand for the clean energy we need to fight climate change, and now some are questioning the reliability of the electricity system. But I’m here to tell you that New York City doesn’t need to sacrifice reliability to address climate change. We can have both.
I guess genuflecting to the cult of climate change is a fundamental qualification for the job of Chairman Con Ed. But you can do that and still be honest when politicians demand the impossible. Instead, the main idea here is that we are doing our part and that the underlying problems are someone else’s fault. We could have “reliability” at the same time as us “Solving the problem of climate change” with wind and solar energy. It’s just those evil people “generator” (not us!) already “slow to meet the growing demand for the clean energy we need.”
But what about the “gap” identified by the New York Independent System Operator, which is likely to manifest in 2030 or so as not enough generations to meet demand? Ketschke begins by acknowledging the looming gap:
[T]NYISO report. . . found that over the next decade, the buffer between peak energy use and New York’s electricity generation capacity will shrink – threatening reliability. That trend is a concern for those of us responsible for keeping the lights on and the air conditioners running, and a clarion call to move faster toward building more energy sources. more renewable and a more reliable system.
But hey, we don’t make generators, just transmission facilities. The generator is someone else’s problem. Rest assured, we are doing our part!:
Con Edison is currently investing more than $2 billion in infrastructure projects to ensure the grid can meet growing energy demands as buildings and vehicles transition from using fossil fuels to electrification. . . . Con Edison is revamping its electric distribution system to deliver more clean energy from solar arrays, wind turbines, hydropower and other renewable resources to support climate goals. Queen of New York State. The company is investing in energy efficiency programs, new substations, renewable energy transmission lines, electric vehicle charger incentives and other measures to usher in a clean energy future.
But what about the generation facilities to supply electricity? Sorry, none of our business.:
The good news is that NYISO’s report also shows the state is moving in the right direction, even if it’s slower than we would like. Last year, New York added 452 MW of clean energy to the grid. We need that number to stay at 1000 in the future, but it’s a good start.
The others just need to step up their game in a big way.
And then Ketscheke finishes with a few more kneeling moves, followed by foot kissing and toe licking of the climate worshipers:
Opponents of New York’s clean energy plan will argue that we need to go back and use fossil fuels to ensure reliability. That’s a head-scratching conclusion. . . . [W]We also know that the best long-term option for the state is to directly address climate change through smart investments that mitigate future climate change, while adapting to climate change. current economy. New York needs to build more clean energy sources to allow highly polluting peak plants to go offline. And we need to invest in research and development to advance new technologies that help deliver electricity 24/7.
My normal instinct is to feel sympathy for the Chairman of Con Edison, who is caught in an impossible situation. He and his company will likely bear a large share of the responsibility for the coming disaster. But between worshiping the cult and exploiting useless new transmission lines, he had completely lost me. Con Ed, if you don’t have the courage to state the obvious truth here, then you deserve whatever is coming to you.
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