Credit: (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)New Jersey aims to electrify both its transportation and building sectors as key steps in fighting climate change, but executives of the state’s utilities cautioned about pushing too fast on that transition.
In an energy forum at Rowan University, energy experts debated Monday the merits of those technologies, as well as nuclear and hydrogen, as ways that may help the state achieve its goal of a 100% clean-energy economy by 2035.
With the state aiming to phase out fossil fuels because of their contribution to global warming, there have been recurring questions about whether an aging power grid can reliably keep the lights on and get people where they need to go when electricity demand is expected to double, driven by a growing reliance on electric vehicles and electric heat pumps to warm and cool homes.
Ralph LaRossa, who heads the parent company of PSE&G, argued New Jersey is well positioned to make that transition because of its past investments in infrastructure, especially on high-powered transmission lines.
“Where we need help right now is on the last mile,’’ he said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do on the last mile.’’
“When you start talking about electrifying homes, there is a lot more to think about,’’ LaRossa said. “Don’t electrify too fast.’’
Stephen Westhoven, president and CEO of the parent company of New Jersey Natural Gas, also expressed caution.
“If it’s not affordable and customers won’t accept it, it won’t work,’’ he said when asked about mobilizing public support for the transition. The company backs the state’s emission reduction target but cautions the state may be moving too quickly toward electrification.
The forum was held at Rowan, a state school that’s among the partners in the Mid-Atlantic Hydrogen Hub, selected by the Biden administration earlier this month to receive $750 million to hasten the decarbonization of the economy and create thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania, Delaware and southern Jersey. PSEG is also a partner.
Dispute over hydrogen
Hydrogen is touted by its backers as a technology that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions in particularly hard to decarbonize sectors, notably heavy industry and transportation. Some clean-energy advocates, including those demonstrating outside the forum, fear it will delay the shift away from fossil fuels.
But not all environmentalists agree.
“This is an opportunity to put thousands of people to work in South Jersey,’’ said Collin O’Mara, chair of the Mid-Atlantic Hub board and head of the National Wildlife Federation. Hydrogen provides a way to make the region the heart of manufacturing again, he said.
Utility executives also backed hydrogen as a way to reduce emissions, saying even delivering small amounts of hydrogen along with natural gas in existing pipelines will provide significant benefits in decarbonizing the economy.
The gas grid is ready to deliver lower carbon fuels of the future, whether it involves hydrogen or renewable natural gas, according to Michael Renna, president and CEO of South Jersey Industries, the owner of South Jersey Gas and Elizabethtown Gas.
But many environmentalists dispute that claim, saying it perpetuates the use of fossil fuels. They also oppose the use of natural gas in the production of hydrogen, sometimes called blue gas.
Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of Delaware Riverkeeper, disputed an assertion by O’Mara that the new hub will only use hydrogen made from renewable energy, such as solar and wind, as well as nuclear.
“This is all about infrastructure,’’ she said. “They want to get the pipelines. It is all about perpetuating fossil fuels.’’
Asked about the opposition to hydrogen, Renna of South Jersey Gas said their goal is the “mothballing of our industry.”
But Steve Sweeney — the former Senate president and eponym of the Rowan center that hosted the forum — argued natural gas is not going away.
“We need gas. You cannot run all the things we have without it. We need a very robust energy portfolio,’’ he said.
