Con Edison has big plans around renewables. CEO Tim Cawley lays it out

In this second of a two-part series, NPM spoke with Timothy Cawley, president and CEO of Consolidated Edison, Inc., on how the utility is successfully transitioning to a cleaner, more resilient energy system. Cawley also serves as CEO of Con Edison's principal subsidiary, Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.

The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) recently launched its inaugural Utility Transformation Challenge to provide a comprehensive, honest assessment of the progress U.S. electric utilities are making towards a modern, carbon-free energy system. SEPA received survey responses from 135 individual utilities, representing more than 83 million customer accounts.

SEPA also unveiled the 2021 Utility Transformation Leaderboard, which recognizes the top 10 utilities that have demonstrated the greatest progress in the carbon-free transition:

• Austin Energy

• Consolidated Edison of New York

• Green Mountain Power

• Holyoke Gas and Electric Department

• Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

• Pacific Gas & Electric

• Sacramento Municipal Utility District

• San Diego Gas & Electric

• Seattle City Light

• Southern California Edison

Con Edison is one of the nation's largest investor-owned energy delivery companies, with approximately USD 12bn in annual revenues and USD 63bn in assets. In January, the utility issued a report detailing how it would incorporate climate change into its planning, design, operations, and emergency response.

Con Edison has taken a proactive, forward-looking approach to climate resiliency in recent years, and is already using its climate change projections for decision making in areas such as power supply forecasting. In addition, the company has announced plans to form a new executive-level committee focused on climate risk and resilience.

NPM: Con Edison has been named a top 10 leaderboard utility around a clean energy transition. To what do you attribute this success as far as corporate leadership, company culture, equity, and accountability?

Cawley: It is all those factors, and it expresses itself at our company as a willingness to listen and act on what our customers and community stakeholders tell us they want to see happen with energy. Dedication to environmental excellence is a part of our culture that resonates with our 14,000 women and men, our executive team and our board. We take the environment into account in every decision we make, whether it is our support of electric vehicles, distributed and large-scale renewables, our robust energy efficiency programs, or our successful efforts to reduce our own carbon emissions.

We support the environmental goals of New York City and New York State and are leading the way in trying to meet them. Con Edison has been serving customers and adjusting our services to meet their needs for almost 200 years, and we see this clean energy transition as another opportunity to adapt to our customers’ evolving energy needs.

Here is a fact you may not have heard about Con Edison Inc.: Through our Clean Energy Businesses, we are the second largest producer of solar electricity in North America and seventh largest in the world.

NPM: Can you talk about some of Con Edison’s efforts around carbon reductions?

Cawley: At Con Edison, we take a comprehensive approach. We have a Clean Energy Commitment to triple our energy efficiency programs by 2030. These programs have already provided customers with incentives for more than USD 1.25m in energy-saving upgrades to lighting, HVAC and other equipment, and we will deploy USD 1.5bn in customer energy efficiency measures and high efficiency electric heating through 2025.

We are all in on electric vehicles because we believe achieving the clean energy future our customers want and deserve will require dramatic cuts to emissions from transportation. Our plan in our EV ‘PowerReady’ is to co-invest with EV charging developers in infrastructure needed to support charging installations. We are working with the City of New York to place 120 charging plugs at curbsides in the five boroughs to make it easier for EV drivers to charge on the road.

In an innovative demonstration project with the city of White Plains, five electric school buses take students to an elementary school during the day and feed power back into our grid at other times. While the amount of power from the buses is small, the knowledge we are creating is large: we are learning and solving technical issues, and whether it would be feasible to scale the program up across our region.

We also recently announced that we will take delivery next year of the first all-electric bucket truck in the U.S. Bucket trucks are used by utility workers to install, repair and maintain overhead wires, transformers and other equipment. And late last year, we partnered with 174 Power Global and announced a large storage system. The battery system will provide 100 MW of storage. The symbolism is significant. The system will be at the site of a former fossil fuel-burning plant in Astoria, Queens.

We encourage our customers to consider whether solar energy is right for them, and they are hearing our call. They have completed 37,000 rooftop projects that produce 334 MW of clean, renewable power.

NPM: What are some of the biggest challenges Con Edison has faced in transitioning to a cleaner, carbon-free grid?

Cawley: As far as challenges go, we continue to seek permission for a ‘universal renewables’ program, which would allow utilities to deploy large-scale solar and wind farms in New York State so that we can contribute even more to the clean energy transformation. We think our expertise in running large energy projects, access to low-cost capital and lower costs to customers over the lifetime of the renewable assets would make utility ownership in the best interests of our customers.

Under the current model, private developers own and operate these large resources under contracts with New York State. That means the developers get the benefit of any efficiencies or savings, and when the contracts expire, the private developers will seek to maximize their financial returns, in some cases by exporting renewable energy out of the state. Through ’universal renewables,’ if technology advances and creates a new efficiency – such as, let us say, improved panels that make a solar farm more productive and cost-effective – customers would get the financial benefits.

Transforming the way power is generated, distributed and used in a market as densely populated and dynamic as New York is incredibly complex and challenging. We are leading this change while keeping our service safe and maintaining our industry-leading reliability and addressing customer needs for affordable service.

Balancing safety, reliability, and cost while transitioning to a non-emitting system is an incredible balancing act, requiring deep knowledge and analysis of engineering, economics, policy and the law. We are fortunate to have great employees and the buy-in of our customers during this transformative period.

NPM: How has New York’s clean energy targets and mandates helped to propel Con Edison's clean energy transition, and can you talk about some of the support you have received from the state around these efforts?

Cawley: The city and state have set ambitious climate goals. We think the goals are achievable and believe we are in a unique position to lead the transition to the clean energy future. We work with our regulator and officials and agencies at all levels of government to help meet the goals.

We have also stated our support for President Biden’s efforts to dramatically increase the amount of clean, renewable energy in the nation’s portfolio and for his dedication to sustainability.

NPM: What advice can you offer other utilities who want to transition to more renewables and increased electrification?

Cawley: Every market is unique, with different policy and regulatory goals, so one size may not fit all. But in a general sense, I think utilities that demonstrate their commitment to sustainability will earn the support of their customers. American society has moved rapidly toward a realization that climate change is real and needs to be addressed.

More than 130 utilities serving 83 million customers responded to the SEPA survey, which I think demonstrates that utilities and customers across the U.S. are dedicated to sustainability. My advice would be to work collaboratively with your regulator and listen closely to your customers and community stakeholders. Hear what your customers want – such as energy efficiency, greater access to renewables, or more information to help them manage their usage – and find a way to provide it.