New gas pipelines have been restricted, and in most of Westchester County and Long Island, suburbs of New York City, there is a moratorium on new natural-gas service. There are no plans to build new hydroelectric plants, which are unpopular with many environmentalists. It takes about 3.1 million solar PV panels to produce 1 GW. The Indian Point nuclear plant, which provides 2.1 gigawatts (GW) 1 One gigawatt is equivalent to 1,000 megawatts (MW) one GW can power about 670,000 homes in New York State. There are long-term issues associated with each of these sources. In 2018, 41 percent of the electricity generated in the state came from fossil fuels, almost all of it gas and dual-fuel (oil and gas) plants 32 percent from nuclear power, and 21 percent from hydropower. The state of New York provides an interesting case study that could prove relevant to other markets, given its level of ambition, its customer and policy trajectory, and the physical characteristics of its current power system. New York’s decarbonization strategy and the power sector Meeting these targets will require extensive efforts across sectors (including power, transportation, industry, and building heating), successful bets on technology, and complex policy changes that incorporate market incentives, costs, customer acceptance, and electrical interconnections with adjacent regions. The European Union hopes to go even further: it wants to decarbonize almost its whole economy-not just the power sector-by 2050. In the past year, several US states have announced 100 percent clean-power targets-meaning complete reliance on low-carbon sources such as wind and solar-to be achieved over the next 20 to 30 years.

Fuel types in power grid board game