Was the European blackout a window into New York's future?

By Bob Catell

It had just passed noon on an ordinary day for people in Lisbon, Madrid and Barcelona when a failure in the region’s energy infrastructure brought modern life as we know it to a screeching halt. One minute, everything was working normally. The next, nothing worked at all. Everything from train service to basic transactions with a debit card disappeared in the blink of an eye. 

For roughly 18 hours, 60 million people were without the one thing we depend upon most and yet take completely for granted—reliable energy. The event represents a cautionary tale for New York as we face the daunting prospect of updating our electrical grid. 

To put it simply, we need to improve transmission between upstate and New York City if we want to avoid power outages in the coming years. There is a window to act—the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) estimates that demand for energy in New York City’s five boroughs will exceed supply by 2033—but the window is closing. Fortunately, we have a project that’s ready to move on, and it can be online well before our current challenges become tomorrow’s crisis. 

Earlier this year, the public comment period closed on a proposal made by the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to advance the development of a $5 billion, 175-mile, underground HVDC transmission line connecting the grids of upstate and New York City, known as Clean Path. The docket shows a wide range of support for the project from dozens of stakeholders including elected officials, municipalities, labor, industry, business, community groups and environmental advocates.

For decades, New York City has advocated for additional transmission to increase local reliability, manage prices and reduce emissions. New York State passed its Climate Act in 2019, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), which mandates 100 percent emission-free energy statewide by 2040. It is dependent on large amounts of offshore wind and makes a project like Clean Path even more important to ensure reliability and manageable prices downstate, and in particular New York City.

With the future of offshore wind facing uncertainty, Clean Path is the right answer at the right moment to ensure reliability and access to additional supply. The project represents the last near-term large scale power supply opportunity for the state. It will deliver 1300 megawatts of capacity to an area in desperate need of the addition with the forecast of increased electrical demand.

Best of all, Clean Path will VASTLY increase the supply of renewable energy in New York City, creating a superhighway to send renewable electrons that are already being generated upstate to where they’re needed downstate. As NYISO has pointed out, in New York we have a ‘Tale of Two Grids,’ one upstate that is roughly 90 percent renewable and one downstate that relies on fossil fuels for 90 percent of its base capacity. If the state adds a gigawatt of nuclear, as Gov. Kathy Hochul recently called for, Clean Path could also be a conduit to deliver that power to the Big Apple.

In 2020, the New York Legislature passed the Accelerated Renewables Act, which empowers the NYPA to expedite transmission development though streamlined planning and approval when projects are deemed a “priority.” That petition is currently before the Public Service Commission (PSC). The PSC should immediately make the project a priority and approve it.

For over 60 years, I’ve dedicated my professional career to the energy industry.  From natural gas to offshore wind, I’ve seen the evolution of the energy sector and learned from the mistakes and successes along the way and that there is no single solution. New York needs to demonstrate its ability to get things done and to drive advancement of the next generation of energy technologies for the benefit of everyone.

It’s time to put those tools into action—and Make Clean Path a priority now.

Bob Catell was formerly Chairman and CEO of KeySpan Corporation and KeySpan Energy Delivery, the former Brooklyn Union. His career with Brooklyn Union started in 1958. He became Chairman, National Grid, U.S., following the acquisition, by National Grid, of KeySpan Corporation. Catell currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC) at Stony Brook University, the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium and, Chair Emeritus of Cristo Rey Brooklyn High School.

Q4 2025