Demand Management: A Cost-Effective, Emissions-Free Alternative to New York City’s Aging Peaker Power Plants

The PEAK Coalition – Clean Energy Group, New York City Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA), New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI), THE POINT Community Development Corporation (The POINT CDC), and UPROSE – has published a new report highlighting ways to address New York City’s growing electricity demand and accelerate peaker plant retirement through robust demand management solutions that harness the flexibility of customer devices, such as smart thermostats, heat pumps, electric vehicle chargers, solar, and battery storage. The report includes best practices for centering equity in demand management program development, with a focus on demand response and virtual power plants, as well as establishing a regulatory framework for implementation.

While demand management cannot necessarily address the entire projected energy generation deficit New York currently faces, it is a simple and rapidly implementable solution which can narrow the projected gap significantly. Importantly, demand management solutions can provide a cost-effective and emissions-free alternative to extending the life of existing polluting fossil fuel assets like aging and inefficient peaker power plants. If implemented effectively, demand management programs can also reduce energy burdens, increase reliability, and generate workforce development opportunities for New York City’s most marginalized communities.

In this webinar, report authors provided an overview of how demand management could reduce New York’s reliance on fossil peaker plants and outlined best practices from other regions that could benefit New York City’s most energy burdened communities.

Speakers:

• Sebastian Baez, UPROSE
• Megan Carr, NYLPI
• Daniel Chu, NYC-EJA
• Dariella Rodriguez, THE POINT CDC
• Seth Mullendore, Clean Energy Group