Ontario collaboration: The government of Ontario announced the agreement between Hochul and Ford and the NYPA-OPG MOU in the same press release on December 19, describing the agreement as a commitment to “work together to advance the development of affordable, reliable and clean nuclear power.” The MOU, in turn, will be part of how the agreement is actualized, and it aims to “leverage Ontario’s global nuclear leadership to advance the development and deployment of nuclear technologies, including large-scale reactors and small modular reactors.”
Ontario and New York will share expertise in the development and deployment of advanced nuclear technology, collaborate on public education on the environmental and economic benefits of nuclear, and identify opportunities for joint NYPA-OPG projects that create jobs in both jurisdictions.
Energy plan: The multi-volume, 1,000-plus-page “2025 New York State Energy Plan” opens with a short letter from Hochul laying out the ambitions of the plan. “Reliability, affordability, and sustainability guide every energy decision I make,” she asserts, and emphasizes that she plans to achieve those broad goals through a “much-needed all-of the-above-strategy” that includes hydropower, solar, onshore and offshore wind, the existing nuclear fleet, advanced nuclear, energy storage, bioenergy, and natural gas.
She adds that the long-term answer to affordability is building more in-state power, including “more firm, zero-emission resources like nuclear to anchor reliability as demand grows.”
Section 5.1.3. of the plan is titled “Support Existing Nuclear Generation and Explore New Technologies.” That section highlights the support the state’s current nuclear facilities receive from a Zero Emission Credit program established in 2016 and recommends the potential extension of the program. The section also generally recommends that the state continue its efforts to engage in multistate collaborations and deploy new nuclear power quickly.
New projections: Perhaps more important than these general calls are the new capacity projections laid out in this plan. Throughout the plan, dozens of figures and tables illustrate different outcomes depending on the actions taken by the state in the coming years.
Broadly speaking, if the state continues with its current policies (and especially if it complies with the recommendations made in the plan), “nuclear is projected to play a significant role in reaching New York’s zero-emissions requirements.” One projection variant in the plan estimates 3.3 gigawatts of new nuclear by 2040, “even beyond the Governor’s ≥1 GW NYPA nuclear target,” while a more conservative variant projects 2.2 gigawatts.
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