2023 Year in Review: Progress Toward a Stronger, Smarter, Cleaner Energy Future

2023 was a year of major climate action for National Grid. As one of the largest utilities in New York, providing energy for both electricity and heat to customers and businesses across the state, we are on the frontlines of the effort to build a clean energy system. At the same time, we remain dedicated to following through on our obligation to provide reliable and affordable service to the New Yorkers who depend on us to power their homes and businesses.

From generation to transmission to delivery, National Grid is engaged in every step of the process that provides clean energy to New Yorkers. This year, we made important strides in all three areas. As the year comes to a close, I want to share an update on the work we’ve done to build a smarter, stronger, cleaner energy system and a look ahead at our plans for the future.

Providing clean energy starts with generation. Between our investments in decarbonizing our gas network and our partners at National Grid Ventures (NGV) achieving major milestones for their projects, we took significant steps to increase clean energy generation in New York this year.

Earlier this year, the New York State legislature passed the Utility Thermal Energy Network and Jobs Act. This added a critical tool to our clean energy toolkit: networked geothermal. Geothermal energy taps into a vast source of energy that lies below the surface of the earth virtually everywhere. It is a new approach to providing emissions-free heat using the earth’s core temperature.

The passage of the Utility Thermal Energy Network and Jobs Act allowed us to propose three utility thermal energy network pilot projects to the Public Service Commission. If approved, these projects will enable us to study the potential for widespread use of networked geothermal to decarbonize heat in older buildings and business facilities.

This spring, we also began renewable natural gas (RNG) production at the Newtown Creek Resource Recovery Facility. This facility, the first of its kind in New York City, captures methane from decaying organic waste and converts it into renewable energy. When operating at full capacity, Newtown Creek has the potential to heat over 5,200 homes and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 90,000 metric tons each year; the equivalent of removing nearly 19,000 cars from the road.

In addition to this important progress decarbonizing heat, Community Offshore Wind, a joint venture between NGV and RWE, was selected to develop 1.3 gigawatts of offshore wind energy in the New York Bight. That’s enough clean energy to power 500,000 households while reducing carbon emissions from our electric system by five percent. This is a huge win for New York and an important step toward achieving our clean energy goals.

Of course, it is not enough to just generate clean energy. We also have to strengthen our grid to ensure that energy is available to New Yorkers when they need it, especially as more and more households and businesses electrify.

National Grid has dedicated $3 billion in capital improvements to modernize more than 1,000 miles of transmission infrastructure across New York, and we are making meaningful progress in this work. We recently completed a project in Ticonderoga that replaced more than two miles of conductor and 220 transmission structures.

This year we also received a $50 million grant from the Department of Energy to support our Future Grid Project, which will use new digital technologies to increase reliability and bring more clean energy to disadvantaged communities.

One especially exciting new technology we are rolling out is Fault Location, Isolation, and Service Restoration (FLISR). FLISR isolates short circuits, overloads, and other faults that cause outages, minimizing the number of customers impacted, and allows us to remotely respond in near real time. Our FLISR installations have already enabled us to save nearly 7,500 customer outage hours and we are well on our way to meeting our goal of connecting 60 percent of our New York customers to FLISR circuits.

We have made particularly significant progress this year in building electric vehicle charging infrastructure. As more New Yorkers switch to EVs, it is critical that we proactively build out the transmission infrastructure needed to provide fast charging, especially along major highways.

Last year National Grid published a first-of-its-kind study of electric charging needs in New York, and this fall we received funding from the DOE to launch a follow-up study that will inform development of the electric truck charging network across nearly 3,000 miles of major highways in the Northeast. This study will be critical to meeting New York’s clean energy goals, as large EVs used for shipping require frequent recharging, but charging options for electric trucks remain limited.

The final step in providing clean energy is making sure our customers can access it and use it efficiently. We work closely with businesses of all sizes across industries, from large manufacturing companies to developers building all-electric buildings to restaurants and corner bodegas, to provide tailored energy solutions to help them electrify. We also provide programs and services to help residential customers and businesses improve energy efficiency through weatherization projects and installing more efficient appliances.

As we look ahead to 2024, we are focused on building on the progress we’ve made this year to meet New York’s critical clean energy goals. Most important, we’re committed to making sure no one has to go without electricity or heat because they cannot afford their bills. We have numerous assistance programs and we work with customers to connect them to resources and bill relief programs offered by local agency partners. Ensuring safe, reliable, and affordable service will always be our top priority, and we are working closely with our partners in Washington, Albany, and communities across New York to make sure that remains our guiding light as we navigate the clean energy transition.

Addressing climate change will not be easy, but when government, industry, and communities work together we can make amazing things happen. I’m proud of the progress we made in 2023 and look forward to continuing our progress toward a stronger, smarter, cleaner energy future in the new year.