National Grid, an electricity, natural gas, and clean energy delivery company serving the states of New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, announced this Thursday it reached a milestone. It connected more than 3 gigawatts of renewable distributed generation across its network.
Firstly, the 3GW of renewable power now connected is enough to power approximately 600,000 homes. As a result, National Grid is now the #2 utility in the nation for non-residential solar installations and #7 for residential solar installations.
Moreover, the milestone follows previous records of the company on the matter. In 2021 it installed more than 525 MW of solar projects; enough to power 100,000 homes across the three states the company is serving. The previous record was in 2020 when the company connected 470 MW of solar projects to its network.
In addition, the company expects such successes would continue in 2022, as connection applications continue to increase; also, as both New York and Massachusetts are implementing new cost allocation arrangements that will reduce the cost barrier for such projects.
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Furthermore, the company’s milestone helps the climate targets of New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. In fact, these three states have ambitious clean energy goals. In New York, the state hopes to have 70% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Rhode Island is striving for 100% renewable electricity by that year; while Massachusetts’ goal is for 40% by 2030.
Consequently, the milestone of National Grid will push further the states’ efforts on renewable energy deployment. Badar Khan, President of National Grid US, said about the matter. “This milestone reflects our company’s commitment toward making a Net Zero future a reality.”
He also remarked. “We are striving to connect solar and distributed generation projects as quickly as possible and are proud to be making rapid progress. By connecting these projects to the grid, we’re helping states meet their clean energy goals, and delivering more renewables to our customers.”
Finally, NYSEIA Executive Director Zack Dufresne, said. “The distributed solar industry welcomes this milestone in attaining the clean energy grid of the future.” National Grid aims to develop and construct nearly $5 billion in transmission and distribution upgrades to help meet the renewable targets in the states where it operates.
