The state recently took the first step to potentially becoming a leader in next-generation nuclear energy.

By Rambo Talabong, Inside Climate News

With growing energy demand and delays in renewable energy rollout, New Jersey is doubling down on nuclear—its largest source of in-state electricity—and is now looking at positioning itself as a national leader in developing next-generation reactors.

In March, the state’s Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) issued a request for information, a document signaling the state’s interest in exploring nuclear energy, asking for input from experts and New Jersey residents.

“To ensure resource adequacy can be met in the region without unreasonable impacts on ratepayers, new sources of electricity generation must come online to grow the supply of resources into the electricity grid,” the request reads.

At the same time, its energy master plan is undergoing an update, from declaring that it would only sustain its current nuclear fleet to recognizing in its latest draft summary that “there will be a role for emerging clean firm technologies such as new nuclear, long duration storage and decarbonized fuels.”

It adds: “New Jersey has the opportunity to emerge as a leader in this space.”

Read the full story here

If you like this post, you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed daily with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Please do not take our word for it, try it free for a full month

From the NJ Senate Democrats

The NJ Senate Environment and Energy Committee has advanced legislation from its Chair, Senator Bob Smith, and Senator John Burzichelli to require the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to establish a program to procure and incentivize the development of transmission-scale energy storage systems with a reasonable likelihood of successful and timely completion.

In essence, energy storage systems are a technology that stores generated energy for use at a later time. For example, solar panels and wind turbines produce energy when the sun is out or when there is sufficient wind. Absent the correct conditions, they do not produce the amount of energy that may be needed to satisfy the demand for electricity at a given time. Energy storage systems allow surplus energy to be captured and stored for later use, such as when demand is particularly high or when other conditions, like lack of sun, reduce the amount of energy that can be generated. In doing so, they can reduce energy costs, improve grid resilience, and make a variety of different energy types more reliable. 

“The benefits of energy storage systems are hard to understate. They enable wider application of clean, renewable energy and they can more broadly reduce energy costs by charging during low-demand, low-cost hours and discharging when demand on the wider electrical grid is higher,” said Senator Smith (D-Middlesex/Somerset). “As projected energy demand rises and electricity costs are scheduled to rise, it is especially important now to invest in these systems and enable the cost savings that they can create.” 

“Energy storage is one of the more effective ways to make the grid more resilient to fluctuations in demand and to reinforce the supply of energy – which will help lower costs,” said Senator Burzichelli (D-Cumberland/Gloucester/Salem). “We have to do what we can to protect consumers from being hit by rising electric bills, and investing in transmission-scale energy storage is an important part of that effort.”

The bill, S-4289, would define “transmission-scale energy storage systems” to mean an energy storage system capable of at least five MW of storage that is interconnected to the PJM Transmission Network and situated inside a Transmission Zone in New Jersey or is otherwise located within the state and qualified to provide services in the wholesale markets established by PJM. The legislation would authorize the BPU to develop a program to provide a long-term, stable financial incentive to large transmission-scale energy storage projects, with eligibility criteria targeting projects that are further along in the development process and show the most promise for successful deployment. 

If you like this post, you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed daily with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Please do not take our word for it, try it free for a full month