State Sen. Bob Smith (D-17th) has introduced a bill (S-2978) to write into law the 2035 clean energy target that stems from Gov. Phil Murphy’s Executive Order 315. The target is to have all electricity sold in the state derived from zero-carbon sources by 2035.
The bill sets thresholds to provide increasing amounts of clean electricity over the 12-year period leading to 2035. The goal is 80% by 2027, and 85% by 2030.
Whether the bill can gain passage during the lame duck session of the Legislature that ends in January is unclear. It currently sits with the Senate’s Environment and Energy Committee, which is chaired by Smith.
Electoral politics leading up to the November election focused heavily on the state’s climate change plans. Uncertainty about how those issues would play with the voters pushed the bill into the lame duck session.
The challenge is how the state plans to stay on track for 100% clean electricity after the Danish firm Orsted’s two major offshore wind projects, which were scheduled to generate 11,000 megawatts of power, were canceled.
Concern also surrounds the additional electricity that will be needed to support the state push to electrify homes and to meet the demands of the Advanced Clean Car II initiative, which requires that all new cars sold in the state must be zero-emission vehicles by 2035.
In a letter to Smith’s committee the New Jersey Rate Counsel urged that the bill not be passed out of committee “until its impact on ratepayers can be fully analyzed.” The Rate Counsel went on to say that supporters of the bill who feel that the target is not elusive and can be met are resting their arguments on “assumptions that appear unrealistic” and are “physically unachievable.”
The U.S. Energy Information Administration profile of electricity generation in New Jersey put its level of zero-emission generation at 52% as of 2021.
Contact the author, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
