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NYEnergyAllies mapped 85 proposed battery energy storage systems (BESS) across…

2026-07-31 · 02:42 UTC ·@NiyerEnergy ·2 min read

Brief

NYEnergyAllies' analysis of 12 months of NYISO data and 85 proposed BESS (11,480 MW) argues batteries predominantly charge on marginal gas generation — 78% of cheapest charging hours — so they extend and increase gas use while collecting large subsidies (estimated $1.3–$2B program, tax exemptions, federal credits).

Why it matters

NYEnergyAllies mapped 85 proposed battery energy storage systems (BESS) across New York totaling 11,480 MW and says they are being sold as "storing renewable energy" while qualifying for a $1.3–$2 billion program funded via electric bills, a 15‑year property‑tax exemption, a proposed sales‑tax exemption, and a federal clean‑electricity tax credit.

Key details

  • Using the last 12 months of NYISO data, NYEnergyAllies found that in 78% of the cheapest charging hours the marginal generator increasing output was a gas plant; another 10–15% of hours were ambiguous and only a few percent were 100% clean. NYISO marginal‑emissions figures range from about 75% to 93% fossil depending on region.
Source evidence

Lol so this is in fact true. Batteries charge with the marginal resource and discharge to displace the marginal resource; which is going to be gas unless you have so many renewables that there is curtailment, which happens later in the game.

Batteries are capacity as an extension of the gas fleet until then, and should not be considered "clean capacity". Just capacity. It's cleaner.

New York Energy Alliance (@NYEnergyAllies)

We mapped all 85 BESS proposals in New York, and what will charge them.

Eighty-five battery storage plants totaling 11,480 megawatts are now proposed across New York, from Chautauqua County to Montauk. Maybe one is coming to your town.

They're being sold everywhere the same way: batteries store renewable energy. That's the pitch in the governor's press releases, in developers' town-board presentations, and in the subsidy applications.

It's the basis for a program that will collect $1.3 to $2 billion from every electric bill in the state, a 15-year property tax exemption that was written for solar and wind, a proposed sales tax exemption, and a federal "clean electricity" tax credit.

Not one of those benefits asks a simple question: when the battery charges, where does that power actually come from?

Here's the thing about the grid: when something large and new plugs in, the power doesn't come from some average of everything running. Somewhere, one specific plant turns up its output to cover the new demand. Whatever that plant burns is what the battery is really storing.

We looked at the last twelve months of NYISO data to find out; every zone, every day's cheapest hours, which are the hours a battery charges.

In 78% of those hours, the plant that turns up is always a gas plant. That's the floor. Another 10-15%, depending on the region, are ambiguous. And only a few percent are 100% clean energy.

NYISO's own marginal-emissions numbers say 75% to 93%, depending on where you live. At 2 a.m., it's not solar. In some places it's a steam plant built in the 1960s.

The batteries aren't storing sunshine. They're storing the overnight output of the gas system, increasing the total amount of gas burned, and collecting renewable-energy subsidies to do it.

Check out the full map in the comments.

— https://nitter.net/NYEnergyAllies/status/2082934663891632487#m