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Q&A
Alternative energy sources and transmission challenges for New York City
1:55:19
ยท
3 min
Council Member Restler and Commissioner Aggarwala discuss potential alternative energy sources and the challenges of transmitting power to New York City. They explore options like geothermal, nuclear, and the importance of transmission lines.
- Geothermal energy has potential within the city, but faces challenges due to underground infrastructure
- The city needs to focus on tapping into large-scale renewable power sources from upstate New York
- Transmission lines are crucial for bringing renewable energy into New York City, as the city cannot be self-sufficient in electricity production
Lincoln Restler
1:55:19
That is helpful.
1:55:22
Disheartening but helpful.
1:55:27
Is now the moment for us to more seriously revisit nuclear, geothermal, other sources of energy as well to to make up for what are appear to be significant challenges with the federal government?
Rohit Aggarwala
1:55:45
You know, look, again, I I will say it is it is too soon to tell.
1:55:49
Okay.
1:55:50
You know, I think we are big fans of geothermal at at the city of New York.
1:55:54
Within the city, there are some great examples of where it it can be used.
1:55:59
I taught for a while at Cornell Tech, is, you know, powered by geothermal.
1:56:04
There are other challenges because, of course, there's a lot of infrastructure underground, and so drilling a lot of holes, including our DEP infrastructure, can be both expensive and difficult.
1:56:13
And I think, you know, as we've seen with Clean Path and and some of these others, the challenge of how New York City taps the potential of different sources of large scale renewable power that might come from Upstate is one of our biggest issues.
1:56:32
We've we've got to be able to do that.
1:56:34
New York City is never going to be self sufficient on electricity.
1:56:38
And so these transmission lines are are pretty important.
Lincoln Restler
1:56:41
Yeah.
1:56:42
No.
1:56:42
I I completely agree.
1:56:43
And I recognize that, you know, to go back to your earlier point, cost on wind had been increasing.
1:56:50
Thank you so much, council member Aviles.
1:56:52
Cost on wind had been increasing, and the viability of those projects was in question.
1:56:57
And the transmission lines, I think, were still open questions as well.
1:57:00
I certainly had never heard anybody give a clear answer on how the transmission lines were coming either through Kings County or through the harbor, which seems really complicated, to get to the clean energy hub in Vinegar Hill.
1:57:12
But I frankly believe that the scale of renewable energy that we can, you know, bring in through these offshore wind projects is so vast that we have to do everything we can to try to make them a reality.
1:57:30
And, you know, I'm a big advocate for solar on rooftops and different things, but it's like a drop in the bucket, right, compared to what we can conceivably accomplish through these major wind projects.
1:57:41
So, you know, we're doing a geothermal there's a geothermal project happening in our district today that's reaching conclusion.
1:57:48
They're beginning to lease out the units later this spring.
1:57:51
It's the largest building powered by geothermal in the city Of New York.
1:57:55
I think it's 800, nine hundred units of housing on the Greenpoint Waterfront.
1:57:59
Lendlease has been leading.
1:58:02
We wanna see more, you know, dynamic alternative approaches that benefit from renewable energy happening in our communities.
1:58:09
So if there are ways in which you think we can be helpful as partners in advocating with the state or others, please let us know, you know, to help ensure that we achieve our city and state climate goals.
1:58:22
On MOCJ, MOCJ continues to report to you.
1:58:26
Is that right?
1:58:27
Yes.
1:58:27
Great.
1:58:29
Are you able, and this may be not in your briefing materials for today, but to share the current headcount for MOCJ and how many are DEP lines?
Rohit Aggarwala
1:58:37
I'm sorry.
1:58:38
I don't have that.
1:58:39
I'm happy to get it to you.
Lincoln Restler
1:58:41
These were things I thought about last night when we found out we were chairing the hearing.