Relates to the establishment of a community renewable energy program; directs the public service commission to evaluate a program to allow individuals to choose to receive energy generated from renewable energy systems.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
456
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 4, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. MAY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Energy and Telecommuni-
cations
AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to the establishment
of a community renewable energy program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public service law is amended by adding a new section
2 66-u to read as follows:
3 § 66-u. Community renewable energy program. 1. For the purposes of
4 this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
5 (a) "Jurisdictional load serving entity" means any entity subject to
6 the jurisdiction of the commission that secures energy to serve the
7 electrical energy requirements of end-use customers in New York state.
8 (b) "Renewable energy systems" means systems that generate electricity
9 or thermal energy through use of the following technologies: solar ther-
10 mal, photovoltaics, on land and offshore wind, hydroelectric, geothermal
11 electric, geothermal ground source heat, tidal energy, wave energy,
12 ocean thermal, and fuel cells which do not utilize a fossil fuel
13 resource in the process of generating electricity.
14 (c) "Low-income customer" means an individual or household that quali-
15 fies for public assistance or supplemental security income benefits
16 under the social services law, or the federal Supplemental Nutrition
17 Assistance Program (SNAP).
18 (d) "Disadvantaged communities" has the same meaning as defined in
19 article seventy-five of the environmental conservation law.
20 (e) "Community renewable energy program" or "the program" means such a
21 program developed pursuant to subdivision three of this section.
22 (f) "Subscribers" means individuals that have opted to receive energy
23 generated by renewable energy systems pursuant to paragraph (a) of
24 subdivision three of this section.
25 2. (a) On or before March thirty-first, two thousand twenty-six, the
26 commission shall evaluate the renewable energy systems currently in use
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00619-01-3
S. 456 2
1 by jurisdictional load serving entities in the state, including net
2 energy metering programs under this article, to determine whether it
3 would be beneficial to ratepayers to establish a new program for juris-
4 dictional load serving entities in the state, or modify an existing
5 program, to establish a community renewable energy program consistent
6 with subdivision three of this section. If the commission determines
7 that it would be beneficial to ratepayers to establish the community
8 renewable energy program, the commission shall, on or before July first,
9 two thousand twenty-six, establish the program as part of the same
10 proceeding and require each jurisdictional load serving entity to
11 participate in the program.
12 (b) If the commission establishes a community renewable energy program
13 pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision, each jurisdictional load
14 serving entity, within one hundred eighty days of the establishment of
15 the program, shall provide the commission with a plan to implement the
16 program.
17 3. The community renewable energy program, if established, shall do
18 all of the following:
19 (a) Allow individuals to choose to receive energy from their jurisdic-
20 tional load serving entity that is generated by renewable energy
21 systems.
22 (b) Ensure at least fifty-one percent of the program's capacity serves
23 low-income customers.
24 (c) Minimize impacts to nonparticipating customers by prohibiting the
25 program's costs from being paid by nonparticipating customers in excess
26 of the avoided costs. Qualifying funds for financial incentives shall
27 only be available through an appropriation by the legislature.
28 (d) Provide bill credits to subscribers based on the avoided costs of
29 the program's facilities, as determined by the commission's methods for
30 calculating the full set of benefits of distributed energy resources.
31 The commission may use actual wholesale market prices for the energy
32 supply portion of an avoided cost calculation or credit value.
33 (e) Prioritize the maximum use of state and federal incentives and
34 accelerate implementation of the program to ensure that time- or quanti-
35 ty-limited federal incentives can be obtained for the benefit of
36 subscribers. As part of this prioritization, the commission shall ensure
37 that a jurisdictional load serving entity participating in the community
38 renewable energy program is eligible for an enhanced federal investment
39 tax credit available as a qualified low-income economic benefit project
40 pursuant to subsection (e) of section 48 of title 26 of the United
41 States Code.
42 4. (a) Within twenty-four months of establishing a community renewable
43 energy program pursuant to this section, if applicable, and annually
44 thereafter for the duration of the program, the commission shall submit
45 a report to the legislature, on the facilities deployed and customers
46 subscribed, pursuant to such program, including an analysis of low-in-
47 come customer participation.
48 (b) On or before March thirty-first, two thousand twenty-six, the
49 commission shall report to the legislature on its actions taken pursuant
50 to this section and its justification for its determination of whether
51 to implement the program pursuant to this section.
52 5. The commissioner is authorized to promulgate any rules and/or regu-
53 lations necessary for the implementation of this section.
54 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
