May 8, 2017 — A cross-section of ratepayers, lawmakers and industry groups are calling for LIPA and PSEG Long Island to disclose the cost of green-energy plans central to LIPA’s release of a three-year study of future energy options.
Missing from an exhaustive three-year study by PSEG were the costs to develop hundreds of megawatts of new offshore wind arrays and solar power needed to comply with state clean-energy mandates. LIPA summarized the study and has been selectively releasing it this month.
When PSEG began the review in 2014, its president, David Daly, vowed both full disclosure and a clear look at how each of the scenarios would affect customers. The PSEG review would have a “very strong focus on transparency,” Daly said, promising to report how each new power source would affect the system, including its impact on customer rates.
But the summary released by LIPA last month leaves out the cost of implementing Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s Clean Energy Standard. The plan calls for LIPA to incorporate some 800 megawatts of new green-energy sources over the next 20 years, despite finding that LIPA won’t need any new energy sources until 2030.