LL97 under-estimates value of local PV
During the 2019 cooling season, 1 MW of local distributed PV in New York City would have displaced 800 tons of CO2e -- by helping remove the Brooklyn/Queens marginal baseload generator from NYISO SCUC each week.
Marginal CO2e emission rates both reveal the opportunity and coordinate the necessary NYC capital and operating improvements. Anything other than a marginal emission rate undervalues and misdirects investment in local PV, energy efficiency, energy storage and demand response.
Removing generation from unit commitment each week requires coordinated action at scale -- a portfolio of local PV, energy efficiency, energy storage and demand response capable of displacing 100 to 400 MW of local generation.
How to read this graph?
1 MW of distributed PV located in Manhattan would have generated 660 MWh and displaced 800 tons of CO2e during the 2019 cooling season (June 10 to September 29). Reference: QCoefficient, Inc., December 2020. “An analysis of New York’s Summer 2019 fossil-fueled electric generation demonstrates that NYC commercial office buildings can dramatically reduce carbon emissions.”
LL97 specifies 660 MWh of credit against building load at an average emission rate of 0.000288962 tCO2e/kWh or 190 tons. Reference: Section 28-320.3.1.1 of the NYC Administrative Code.
For this example, the PV azimuth (230°) and tilt (25°) were selected to maximize PV production during ConEd distribution system summer peak hours.