Long Island exceeding NYS green-energy goals for solar power, heat pump installations

Long Island continues to be a key driver in the state's efforts to meet ambitious green-energy goals, already exceeding the 2025 plan for solar power and electric heat pump installations while leading in electric-vehicle adoption, officials said at a future-of-energy conference in Hauppauge.

Long Island this year has surpassed 85,000 homes with solar rooftops, said Mike Voltz, PSEG Long Island’s director of energy efficiency and renewables, with the milestone of one in 10 Long Island customers powered by the sun possible by 2026. Also, more than 59,000 EV drivers are on roadways on Long Island — long one of the top EV regions in the state — though the figure remains short of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s ambitious plan for Long Island to have more than 178,000 EVs on its roadways by next year.

Carrie Meek-Gallagher, director of the state Department of Public Service’s Long Island office, noted Long Island makes up 12% to 14% of the state’s overall energy demand and about 15% of the population, but its high EV adoption rate means it will constitute 30% of the state’s electric vehicle goal achievement.

For electric heat pumps, the highly efficient heating systems on Long Island are exceeding the state’s goal, with more than 34,000 installed as of June, compared with a 2025 goal of 30,000, she said, citing PSEG figures. 

For solar overall, Long Island has installed more than 1,089 megawatts of sun-powered generating capacity, well above the state’s goal for the region of 750 megawatts, Meek-Gallagher said.

"Long Island plays a really critical role in helping the state meet its ambitious climate goals," she told more than 100 attendees at a Hauppauge Industrial Association conference Friday.

Scott Maskin, founder of SUNation Solar Systems and interim chief executive of Pineapple Energy, said the key to increasing solar power’s footprint will be expanding it on large rooftops and reducing the red tape that can slow projects. He pointed to lack of progress in a plan to put solar on industrial rooftops in the Hauppauge Industrial Park, though he expects a future program with Suffolk County to expedite the projects.

Wind farms in coming years are expected to make up more than 50% of a Long Island power mix that is now primarily fueled by natural gas-powered plants, officials said, though none at the conference were able to say specifically when big gas-fired power plants would be shut down. State law mandates 100% zero-emission energy by 2040.

And big transmission projects aimed at moving all that new power around the state are in the permitting process, bringing new high-voltage power lines to bridge upstate and downstate grids. But they are also causing "disruptions" to communities that will host them.

The biggest new transmission project, called Propel NY, a $3 billion project that foresees 90 miles of new high-voltage lines to connect upstate and downstate grids, expects to start construction in 2026 and be complete by 2030, a date Meek-Gallagher called "nonnegotiable."

"It creates the ability for the power flows to happen from Westchester into Long Island, from New York City into Long Island, and also it provides an outlet for power from Long Island to all those locations," said Girish Behal, vice president of projects and business development for the New York Power Authority, a partner in Propel NY. "It really enables the exchange of energy."

Meek-Gallagher noted the upstate region is 70% powered by zero-emission energy, including plentiful hydro power, nuclear and land-based wind, while the downstate region, primarily New York City and Long Island, has only 2% zero-emission power.

Bahal said electric demand has been increasing across the state since the COVID-19 pandemic as consumers use more electric appliances; Behal said he expects it to continue to increase, eventually doubling over the next 20 years.

Bahal said Propel NY already has held hundreds of community and stakeholder meetings and will continue to hold them because, "Like any other highway project, this is going to be disruptive," with digging on roadways having an impact on homes and businesses.

Community engagement, he said, is key.

"Without the community, the project is not happening," he said.

The power shift comes as Long Island grid-owner LIPA continues to review options for its future management. Grid manager PSEG’s contract expires at the end of 2025, and LIPA is now reviewing bids to determine which company will manage it in the future.

Interim LIPA chief executive John Rhodes told the gathering Friday, "We’re in the middle of a process to figure out who the future service provider will be. It could well be PSEG Long Island, but I’m not going to talk much more about that."

But Long Island isn't ahead on all green-energy goals. It is clearly behind the goals for battery storage adoption, as towns from Southold to Oyster Bay have declared moratoriums on the systems as the state develops new fire-safety codes to address fires that have heightened concerns. Only two utility-scale battery storage units are operating on Long Island, in Montauk and East Hampton; the latter of which experienced a fire in 2023.

The Island is also home to hundreds of smaller battery installations in homes and businesses. The combined 42 megawatts of storage installed on Long Island represents only 22% of the state’s goal of 188 megawatts by 2025, Meek-Gallagher said.

Long Islanders continue to organize in opposition to big battery projects, including a meeting attended by hundreds of North Shore residents in September against the installation of a 275-megawatt project in Glen Head.

But while many 2025 goals are met, the larger state goals remain ambitious.

Meek-Gallagher noted by 2030, "which is just five years away," utilities in the state are expected to be operating with 70% renewable energy, and at 100% by 2040. "So, very ambitious climate goals," she said, noting the state recently announced meeting a milestone of having 6,000 megawatts of solar statewide.

The state goal calls for 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2035. Thus far, only a single offshore wind farm, South Fork Wind, is producing power, chiefly to the Hamptons. A second, called Sunrise Wind, is under construction and is expected to bring 924 megawatts to Long Island, at Brookhaven, by 2026.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.