Hydrogen and Public Policy
New York
The New York State Energy Research and
Development Authority (NYSERDA) along with
the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) and New
York Power Authority (NYPA) completed a funding
competition in January 2004 offering organizations
from around the country and internationally a grant of
up to $750,000 to design a Hydrogen Roadmap for the
State of New York. A final proposal for the Roadmap
was chosen and began in May 2004; design of the plan
is expected to take about nine months. Along
with a plan for building out necessary infrastructure
to support stationary and mobile uses for hydrogen
fuel, the grant also funds education and outreach
programs, and the development of codes and standards.
Support is provided organizations active in promoting
other renewable energy resources and distribution
methodologies to help conceive of ways to integrate
these areas into a successful hydrogen economy in the
state.
New York State has supported renewable
resources and distributed generation (DG) projects for
several years through programs like the Renewable &
Indigenous Energy R&D Program that facilitates efforts
to make alternative and renewable energy sources costcompetitive.
The 2002 State Energy Plan adopted
measures to improve energy diversity in the state and
launched efforts to develop and implement a renewable
portfolio standard for electricity generation in the
state. The goal is to increase the level of electricity
generated from renewable resources to 25 percent, an
increase of almost 10 percent, of the total state portfolio
over the next decade. These activities are based on
a desire to protect the environment and promote energy
reliability. As home to the nation’s most populous city,
concerns about grid reliability are key to New York’s
energy agenda. Embracing hydrogen as a future energy
source for the state will require integrating it with other
renewable energy resources. How to integrate PV, wind,
and indigenous resources, such as biomass, geothermal,
or natural gas – are all included in the winning proposal
for the Hydrogen Roadmap.
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