The report “Alternatives to New England’s Energy Affordability Crisis” published by Always on Energy Research demonstrates how a focus on deploying reliable nuclear and natural gas power plants could yield hundreds of billions of dollars in savings for New England electricity customers compared to the grid outlined in the Renewable scenario stated in their previous report. The report analyses three new scenarios: a Nuclear scenario, where rising demand for carbon-free electricity and electrification are met with new nuclear power plants, a Natural Gas scenario, where the region meets rising demand with new natural gas power plants and pipeline capacity, and a Happy Medium scenario, where a blend of technologies achieves a cost-optimized, 50 percent carbon-free electricity grid by 2050.
The report suggests that decarbonizing New England’s economy will not be easy or affordable. Each of the four scenarios studied will have significant inflationary impacts on electricity costs in the ISO-NE region, harming families and businesses in the region by causing their power bills to rise. The Renewable scenario would achieve a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, but it would also cost ratepayers the most money. This scenario would increase costs by an additional $815 billion through 2050 compared to the current grid, causing New England families to see their electricity bills increase from $175 per month in 2024 to $384 per month by 2050.
The Nuclear scenario would achieve the highest decarbonization, reaching 92 percent carbon-free power in 2050, but at a lower cost. In total, this scenario would cost $415.3 billion. The Natural Gas and Happy Medium scenarios would cost far less, at $106.9 billion and $195.8 billion, respectively. Analysis further highlights that dispatchable generation will save New England hundreds of billions of dollars and avoid blackouts. The idea that New England can run its electric grid on wind turbines, solar panels, and batteries is a dangerous and unserious proposition. Therefore, these new scenarios offer a more affordable, reliable, and reasonable path forward for energy policy in the New England states.
Access the report here