ALBANY, New York — New York’s grid operator has proposed relying on a utility-scale battery instead of a fossil fuel plant to set costs for a key part of energy markets for the first time.
The pending decision to select a two-hour battery could trigger litigation and protests from owners of existing fossil fuel plants and the trade group representing battery developers, both of which prefer a four-hour battery instead.
The potentially bitter fight over how much consumers should pay to keep and add new energy resources to the electric grid comes at a time when the future reliability of the system is at risk. For power plant owners, it’s an existential risk to their bottom line — with some warning that they won’t earn enough to make staying open worthwhile.
This obscure but crucial “demand curve reset” process plays out every four years at the New York Independent System Operator. It has implications for consumer costs and the reliability of New York’s electric grid.
