Patrick Migliaccio, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, New Jersey Natural Gas
The urgent challenges of climate change require a different kind of thinking. If we are going to meet New Jersey’s goal of reducing carbon emissions by 80% over the next three decades, our state’s energy companies must step up and lead the way.
New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) recognizes the urgent challenge of climate change and support New Jersey’s goal of reducing carbon emissions 80% by 2050.
And, we’re taking bold steps to lead the way to New Jersey’s clean energy future.
We’ve set a goal to achieve Net-Zero carbon emissions from our New Jersey operations by 2050 and are driving forward new approaches to how we can create, manage and deliver cleaner energy to the 570,000 customers we serve – all while continuing to provide the same safe, reliable service they depend on.
Our goal is for New Jersey Natural Gas to be the home heating utility of the clean energy future – leading with investments in high-integrity infrastructure, advanced clean energy technology and broad energy efficiency programs.
With this approach, we will reduce the total amount of energy needed by our customers and dramatically lower emissions from the energy they do use to keep their homes warm and businesses running, especially on the coldest days of the year.
By using our existing pipeline infrastructure that is already built to deliver these carbon reductions, NJNG will help drive a clean energy transition that reaches climate goals more quickly, more affordably, and with the reliability our economy needs.
Innovation across a broad spectrum of technologies is critical to reaching 2050 goals. And NJNG is driving forward new ideas and technology to move New Jersey forward in our clean energy journey.
One way is through the adding low- and zero-carbon fuels, like renewable natural gas or green hydrogen, into our system. Blending these decarbonized fuels into our existing system will allow us to steadily reduce the amount of carbon emissions from the energy our customers consume.
This is a path to the clean energy future that does not require changes to how customers use energy today – no costly appliance replacements, building retrofits, or forced choices of what energy type is right for each family or business.
NJNG is showing the real-world potential of this approach today. We are actively blending green hydrogen through our Howell Green Hydrogen Project, the first project of its kind on the East Coast.
Green hydrogen is a next generation renewable fuel. It uses power from solar or wind energy to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. The hydrogen, which is 100% carbon free, is captured and stored, and then blended into the company’s existing gas distribution system.
Another way we reach our net-zero goals will be through the production and delivery of renewable natural gas, or RNG. RNG is recycled energy that can be produced from New Jersey’s landfills, sewage treatment plants, food and other vegetative waste.
When these waste streams naturally decompose, they produce methane. Instead of allowing the emissions emitted at these sites to pollute local communities and airsheds, we see an opportunity to capture, clean and utilize this energy source in our distribution network.
Recycling this energy for use in our home heating network is the definition of a sustainable practice – and NJNG is actively exploring opportunities to develop these new fuel sources for our customers.
The speed of the energy transition is paramount to achieving our 2050 goals, and innovations like these that leverage existing energy infrastructure are key. They will drive emissions down more quickly and affordably by avoiding a wholesale buildout of new energy infrastructure.
The federal government is on the same page, taking an all-hands, all-solutions approach to the climate challenge, with the Biden administration’s passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a historic and critical piece of legislation that provided unprecedented funding to combat climate change.
The IRA is game-changing legislation for New Jersey. It sets a level playing field for investment and competition in approaches to reduce emissions. And it recognizes that the technology needed to drive the most efficient and affordable way to 2050 goals will continue to progress and look different they do in 2022.
The IRA unlocks an All-the-Above approach to clean energy, using the enormous power of the federal tax code to support clean energy innovation and investment with a singular focus on reducing carbon emissions.
We believe this is the most affordable way to reach the energy transition, while making immediate carbon emissions reductions. Locally, energy innovation is showing us how the infrastructure that was built to store and deliver natural gas can play a key role in driving down emissions and reaching our state’s 2050 climate zero fossil fuels emissions goals.
New Jersey Natural Gas is leading the way to put these innovative ideas into practice as real, impactful climate solutions.
Patrick Migliaccio serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at New Jersey Natural Gas. NJNG, the principal subsidiary of New Jersey Resources (NJR), operates and maintains over 7,600 miles of natural gas transportation and distribution infrastructure to serve over half a million customers in New Jersey’s Monmouth, Ocean, Morris, Middlesex, and Burlington counties.
