STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5277--A
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 12, 2015
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Introduced by Sens. FUNKE, AMEDORE, CARLUCCI -- read twice and ordered
printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Energy
and Telecommunications -- recommitted to the Committee on Energy and
Telecommunications in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- commit-
tee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recom-
mitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to the creation of
the New York Farm-to-Urban Consumer Solar Access Act of 2016
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative intent and purpose. It is the intent of the
2 Legislature to extend access to the savings and benefits of solar power
3 to electricity consumers that reside in multifamily buildings by allow-
4 ing these consumers to share in the savings and benefits of solar power
5 systems located on agricultural land or other qualified properties
6 including landfills and brownfields. By extending the state's abundant
7 solar energy resources to more consumers, it is the further intent of
8 the Legislature to reduce the costs for electricity incurred by consum-
9 ers residing in multifamily buildings, to increase the benefits that
10 accrue to electricity consumers that reside in multifamily properties
11 from the payment of the system benefit charge, to create new sources of
12 income for owners of agricultural land and other qualifying properties,
13 and to create jobs and increase economic growth for the citizens of the
14 State.
15 § 2. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "New
16 York Farm-to-Urban Consumer Solar Access Act of 2016".
17 § 3. The public service law is amended by adding a new article 12 to
18 read as follows:
19 ARTICLE 12
20 SHARED SOLAR POWER
21 Section 240. Definitions.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11026-02-6
S. 5277--A 2
1 241. Shared solar power.
2 § 240. Definitions. As used in this section the following terms shall
3 have the following meanings:
4 1. "Solar electric generating equipment" means a photovoltaic system
5 that is: (a) interconnected to the distribution system on the customer
6 side of the electric distribution company meter, (b) operated in
7 conjunction with an electric corporation's transmission and distribution
8 facilities and in compliance with any standards and requirements estab-
9 lished under section sixty-six-j of this chapter, (c) with a rated
10 capacity of not more than two hundred kilowatts until the end of two
11 thousand seventeen, five hundred kilowatts until the end of two thousand
12 eighteen and the Commission may, through a formal proceeding increase
13 the rated capacity to an aggregate total of one megawatt through a
14 formal proceeding at any time after January first, two thousand nine-
15 teen, and (d) that is manufactured, installed, and operated in accord-
16 ance with applicable government and industry standards.
17 2. "Customer-generator" means a residential or non-residential custom-
18 er of an electric corporation who owns or operates solar electric gener-
19 ating equipment as defined in subdivision one of this section, located
20 and used at his or her farm operation, as such term is defined in subdi-
21 vision eleven of section three hundred one of the agriculture and
22 markets law; or a non-residential customer of an electric corporation
23 which owns or operates solar electric generating equipment as defined in
24 subdivision one of this section, located and used at a qualified site
25 pursuant to subdivision nine of this section.
26 3. "Net energy meter" means a meter that measures the reverse flow of
27 electricity to register the difference between the electricity supplied
28 by an electric corporation to the customer-generator and the electricity
29 provided to the corporation by that customer-generator.
30 4. "Net energy metering" means the use of a net energy meter to meas-
31 ure, during the billing period applicable to a customer-generator, the
32 net amount of electricity supplied by an electric corporation and
33 provided to the corporation by a customer-generator.
34 5. "Electric utility" means any investor-owned utility that distrib-
35 utes electricity within this state.
36 6. "Qualified consumer" shall mean an electric service account holder
37 of an electric utility who resides in a building of greater than four
38 housing units or in a condominium or housing cooperative located in the
39 service territory of the electric utility or any of its wholly owned
40 subsidiaries, in which the shared solar power facility, as defined in
41 subdivision eight of this section, is located; or who resides within
42 five miles of a farm operation as defined in subdivision eleven of
43 section three hundred one of the agriculture and markets law that is
44 also a qualified site under the provisions of this chapter and is
45 located in the service territory of the electric utility.
46 7. "Qualified solar energy generation" means electric output measured
47 in kWh from a shared solar power facility as defined in subdivision
48 eight of this section.
49 8. "Shared solar power facility" means solar electric generating
50 equipment as defined in subdivision one of this section, whose owner
51 holds the title or leasehold of a "qualified site" as defined in subdi-
52 vision nine of this section, and that elects to assign net metering
53 credits to "qualified consumers", as defined in subdivision six of this
54 section, according to the requirements of this article.
55 9. "Qualified site" shall mean: (a) property used for farm operations
56 as defined in subdivision eleven of section three hundred one of the
S. 5277--A 3
1 agriculture and markets law; or (b) property owned or leased by any
2 legal entity that is organized as a not for profit or a landfill, or an
3 area designated as a brownfield.
4 10. "Solar subscription" means a contract made by the owner of a qual-
5 ified site assigning a pro-rate share, whose numerator is one and whose
6 denominator is the number of qualified consumers to whom the net meter-
7 ing credits of the shared solar power facility are being allocated, to a
8 qualified consumer with a minimum length of three years, a maximum
9 length of ten years, a fixed annual renewal date, a provision providing
10 the qualified consumer with the right to end their subscription on the
11 annual renewal date with sixty days notice to the owner.
12 11. "Shared solar power allocation schedule" shall mean an attachment
13 to the schedule prescribed in subdivision three of section sixty-six-j
14 of this chapter, published by each electric utility, to be filled out
15 electronically by the shared facility owner and filed electronically
16 with the electric utility to show the prorated share of the kWh produced
17 by the shared solar facility to be allocated to a utility account hold-
18 er. Within sixty days of the effective date of this article each elec-
19 tric utility shall submit its attachment schedule and describe its
20 filing procedures to the commission.
21 § 241. Shared solar power. 1. The kWh of electricity generated by a
22 shared solar facility during each electric utility billing period shall
23 be allocated by the owner of the shared solar facility according to the
24 terms of the subscription agreement for each subscribing consumer. The
25 allocation shall be recorded and filed with the electric utility whose
26 account holders are subscribers. The amount of the net metering credits
27 to be attributed to each such customer shall be determined by the allo-
28 cation provided by the shared solar facility. The credit will be
29 applied to the monthly bill of each subscription holder with a
30 subscription agreement at the same rate as the customer pays on their
31 primary account. Credits may be carried forward by such customers from
32 month to month. Written notice of the identity of the customers so
33 designated and the allocation of the credits to be attributed to such
34 customers shall be in such form as required by the provisions described
35 in subdivision ten of section two hundred forty of this article.
36 2. A solar subscription shall not be considered as a security.
37 3. A customer-generator who owns a shared solar facility at a quali-
38 fied site may designate all or a portion of the net metering credits
39 generated by such equipment to qualified consumers who reside within
40 that utility service territory.
41 4. All renewable energy credits produced by the shared solar facility
42 shall, not withstanding the terms and conditions of any incentive
43 program for which the owner is eligible, remain the property of the
44 owner of the shared solar facility.
45 5. Shared solar facilities shall be exempt from the limitations set
46 forth in subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (a) of subdivision three of
47 section sixty-six-j of this chapter. Shared solar facilities shall be
48 subject to all safety standards as set forth in subdivision five of such
49 section.
50 6. Each retail electric supplier that is an electric distribution
51 company shall be entitled to recover the prudently incurred costs of
52 complying with its obligations, as determined by the commission. All
53 such costs shall be recovered through the supply portion of each elec-
54 tric customer's bill in a competitively neutral manner.
55 7. The commission may in its discretion and through a formal proceed-
56 ing, suspend this program if it is determined to have a substantial
S. 5277--A 4
1 negative impact on the utility costs of ratepayers, or if it is deter-
2 mined that the further operation of the program is not in the public
3 interest. If the commission should issue an order pursuant to this
4 subdivision, all projects already under contract as of the date of the
5 order would be held harmless and allowed to operate under the conditions
6 that exist prior to such order.
7 § 4. Severability. If any provision of this act is, for any reason,
8 declared unconstitutional or invalid, in whole or in part, by any court
9 of competent jurisdiction, such portion shall be deemed severable, and
10 such unconstitutionality or invalidity shall not affect the validity of
11 the remaining provisions of this act, which remaining provisions shall
12 continue in full force and effect.
13 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
