Energy Research Roundtable

Today, the energy industry is in a period of disruption. The industry is faced with an urgent need to resolve questions about energy security, reliability, decarbonization, and price stability. Massive investments on the scale of $80 billion per year will need to be invested.

These investments must be made at a time when demand growth is slowing and energy efficient technologies are proliferating. These market conditions challenge utilities, which must be responsive to shareholders, regulators, and customers. Cities and states are capitalizing on—if not facilitating— this disruption. Absent federal climate policies, planners and decision-makers are taking steps to create cleaner, greener, and economically competitive cities and states. Cities are experimenting with building codes, point-of-sale agreements, electric vehicle infrastructure, special energy improvement districts, and other ways to gain greater control over future emissions while spurring innovation and economic growth. All of these changes will require us to think critically about how we can create an energy infrastructure that is at once reliable, efficient, affordable, secure and resilient.

Though the challenge is daunting, inaction is not an option.

There are opportunities to intervene at the regional scale. New federal policies will require inter-regional cooperation and give states leverage in pursuing projects that meet public policy objectives. New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut have pioneered innovative policy and regulatory standards, financing tools and authorities, and the development and deployment of renewables. Now there is an opportunity to knit together the disparate activities of the Pennsylvania Jersey Maryland Power Pool (PJM), the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), and Independent System Operator-New England (ISO-NE) in pursuit of new infrastructure that can meet the region’s needs. Furthermore, state and local efforts to reduce carbon emissions will change the way we interact with our homes, our neighborhoods, and our cities. The efforts will transform our buildings, transportation systems, and other parts of our daily lives.

Regional planning will bring these changes to scale in a way that benefits rate-payers and helps us meet our carbon goals. RPA hopes to advance an energy infrastructure that is at once reliable, efficient, affordable, secure, and resilient. The purpose of the Energy Research Roundtable is to bring together a small group of experts to discuss emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities that could be considered in upcoming Fourth Regional Plan. This multiyear initiative is the fourth such effort led by RPA in its 90 year history, and the first in a generation. The Fourth Regional Plan focuses on the strategic government and business decisions that will shape the region’s overall wellbeing for the next generation. The Plan creates a vision of future success and a roadmap for the major government and business decisions required to achieve it. The Fourth Regional Plan will address three distinctive challenges: governance, economic opportunity, and climate change. For the first time, the Regional Plan will address energy, which touches on all three issues. To advance this discussion, RPA has commissioned three white papers on critical challenges and opportunities.

These papers address emerging technology, financing, and regulatory trends that can help advance a decentralized, distributed model of infrastructure.

The first paper, written by Edward Krapels and Clarke Bruno of Anbaric Transmission, makes a case for greater competition in the electricity industry, which will spur innovation and transform the New York metropolitan region from a load pocket to an energy hub. This paper focuses on opportunities to advance competition and innovation in transmission and distributed generation.

The second paper, authored by James Fine of Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), proposes On-Bill Repayment as a long-term solution for expanding energy efficiency programs. This paper presents the results of a detailed quantitative analysis that explains the environmental and economic benefits of On-Bill Repayment. EDF proposes this financing tool as a way to overcome the challenges in scaling up energy efficient technologies and bringing renewables to market in the region.

The third paper is authored by Adam Friedberg, Chris Brosz, and Fiona Cousins of Arup. This paper describes key technologies that are enabling a shift to a distributed, decentralized grid and identifies opportunities to deploy these technologies in the region. Using these papers as a touchstone, we invite discussion for the key factors that will shape the region’s energy future.

From these discussions, we will tease out priorities for the Fourth Regional Plan and identify planning, policy, and research issues to which RPA can contribute. Post-recession, the emphasis has shifted from condominiums to rentals, but in-town development remains a focus of the real estate industry. Research continues to demonstrate that properties near transit enjoy a value premium and that real estate values near transit hold up better during real estate downturns.1 Transit-oriented development is also sometimes called ​“transit-supportive” development to emphasize its role in transportation.

A TOD strategy can support long-term plans to improve transit service frequency and quality. Destinations near rail stations and bus hubs make it easy for transit to be the preferred mode for residents and commuters. More transit riders increase the efficiency of our bus and rail systems and generate demand for more frequent and better quality service. TOD also increases regional access to educational and employment opportunities, both by increasing housing options near transit and by making regional destinations accessible to non-drivers.

This toolkit introduces the primary components of a TOD program that meets common community goals of strengthening town centers, supporting municipal budgets, expanding housing and commercial opportunities, and minimizing environmental impacts.