To the Editor:The Tim Knauss article on Cornell Professor Lindsay Anderson’s evaluation of the future New York electric grid (“There’s a mind-boggling gap in NY’s plan for a clean electric grid. ‘We are so far behind,’ ” Nov. 19, 2024) is a great summary of the issues associated with the need for a new dispatchable emissions-free resource (DEFR). However, it does not address the implications on current New York energy policy. The Hochul administration has finally started its update of the New York Energy Plan. The draft scope of the plan describes an electric system that relies on wind and solar generation. No jurisdiction anywhere has successfully developed such a system. The state agencies responsible for a reliable electric system agree with Anderson that a wind, solar and energy storage system requires DEFR. It is prudent to fund a demonstration project to prove that such an electric system will work or, at the very least, complete a comprehensive renewable feasibility analysis to determine whether such a system will maintain affordability and reliability standards.The most likely DEFR backup technology is nuclear generation because it is the only candidate resource that is technologically ready. Nuclear power has a proven record for resilient electric production; development would not require changes to the rest of the electric system; it is not limited by weather extremes; it has lower environmental impacts; and when life cycle costs are considered, is likely cheaper. Its use as backbone energy would eliminate the need for wind, solar, energy storage and new DEFR deployment to meet Climate Act mandates. Renewable development should be paused until proven feasible because it is likely a dead-end approach as our energy source.Roger Caiazza