Ask N.J. Board of Public Utilities President Ben Hertz-Shargel what the state can add to the grid fastest, and the answer is simple: the small stuff.
“From the timeline perspective, smaller resources are ones that can be built much faster,” he said. “They can be deployed more quickly. They can be permitted or interconnected more easily, so that’s why we are pursuing a number of behind-the-meter programs and this VPP, the Virtual Power Plant Initiative that we’re rolling out.”
Big plants are another story.
“You cannot build a combined cycle gas plant tomorrow. That’s not going to happen.”
Next in line, he said, is commercial and utility-scale solar and storage, which is already in flight and should land within several years. Nuclear sits at the far end.
Hertz-Shargel, who has led the BPU for a little more than four months, laid out the timeline Thursday during a fireside chat at BINJE’s Best: Top Utility and Infrastructure Leaders, held in partnership with the New Jersey Utilities Association at Jumping Brook Country Club in Neptune.
Here are 8 other things he said:
8. His priorities are the obvious ones
Hertz-Shargel didn’t dress it up.
“I’m going to say the obvious: affordability, reliability and deployment of clean energy,” he said. “We have emissions goals for the state. It’s critical that we meet them.”
Behind those are concrete projects: solar and storage programs and solicitations, rethinking how utilities make money, a tariff for data centers and carrying out the Advanced Grid Technologies Act.
7. Build markets, not handouts
Hertz-Shargel came to the BPU from the private sector. He said New Jersey has long relied on generous incentive programs to bring in energy efficiency and new generation. He wants to move to markets where the value is clear enough that developers and technology providers show up on their own.
“What we want is to build markets,” he said.
6. He knows how you’ll react
Hertz-Shargel has worked on the implementation side of utility programs and with utilities, developers, financial firms, technology providers and automakers.
“I do feel like I have a sense of everybody’s perspective and what they’re looking for, where they see opportunity, and what are some of the challenges that they see,” he said.
He said he brings those perspectives into conversations with BPU staff so new policies work in the field and aren’t seen as “a hammer.”
5. ‘All of the above’ means all of it
Hertz-Shargel said the grid needs many pieces working together.
“We know that the grid … requires a whole bunch of different components,” he said. “You need base load. You need dispatchable generation. But there’s going to be a lot of renewables because it’s low cost. It can be developed sooner, and we have climate goals that we need to meet as a state.”
Add flexibility, such as demand response and behind-the-meter resources, and the system can meet demand without being overbuilt.
“We cannot go with one resource class alone,” he said. “We need all of these pieces for reliability.”
4. Not all of it will be in New Jersey
“We want as many as possible in state,” he said of new resources. But he wants regional transmission, too.
“If we can pull in low-cost generation from other states … that is something that we should strongly consider doing.”
3. PJM has to change
Even medium-term projects depend on PJM, the regional grid operator. Hertz-Shargel said more regional transmission is needed and that he hopes federal legislation will help with permitting.
“We really need better and more reform processes in PJM, and we are very much working on that,” he said.
He said Elizabeth Noll, Senior Strategist for Energy in the Office of the Governor, is doing much of the state’s work with PJM and other states on resource adequacy and transmission.
2. Who to call
Hertz-Shargel said he wants direct, honest conversations with utilities and other stakeholders, especially in stakeholder meetings. But he can only go so far himself.
“I can’t talk personally in great detail about anything that’s going to come before the board,” he said.
He pointed attendees to two members of his staff who were in the room: Chief of Staff Ben Giovine and Deputy Chief of Staff Becky Strasser Tomilchik. He invited people to reach out to them to set up meetings.
1. Nuclear is the long game
Hertz-Shargel co-chairs the state’s Nuclear Task Force with Noll. The state is also pursuing a procurement for advanced nuclear under a mandate from the Legislature.
He said the state isn’t locked into any one technology.
“We are not biased in terms of what advanced nuclear constitutes,” he said. “SMRs are part of the solution. It’s a whole range of reactor technologies.”
The task force will weigh costs, benefits and risks, which he said vary widely from design to design.
“Obviously, nuclear is the longest time frame there.”
