N.Y. Public Service Law § 66-p: Establishment of a renewable energy program

§ 66-p. Establishment of a renewable energy program. 1. As used in

this section:

(a) "jurisdictional load serving entity" means any entity subject to

the jurisdiction of the commission that secures energy to serve the

electrical energy requirements of end-use customers in New York state.

(b) "renewable energy systems" means systems that generate electricity

or thermal energy through use of the following technologies: solar

thermal, photovoltaics, on land and offshore wind, hydroelectric,

geothermal electric, geothermal ground source heat, tidal energy, wave

energy, ocean thermal, and fuel cells which do not utilize a fossil fuel

resource in the process of generating electricity.

(c) "bill credit" shall have the same meaning as in subparagraph (i)

of paragraph (a) of subdivision twenty-seven-b of section one thousand

five of the public authorities law.

(d) "disadvantaged community" means a community defined as a

disadvantaged community under article seventy-five of the environmental

conservation law.

(e) "renewable energy" means electrical energy produced by a renewable

energy system.

(f) "low-income or moderate-income end-use consumer" shall mean

end-use customers of electric corporations and combination gas and

electric corporations regulated by the public service commission whose

income is found to be below the state median income based on household

size.

2. No later than June thirtieth, two thousand twenty-one, the

commission shall establish a program to require that: (a) a minimum of

seventy percent of the state wide electric generation secured by

jurisdictional load serving entities to meet the electrical energy

requirements of all end-use customers in New York state in two thousand

thirty shall be generated by renewable energy systems; and (b) that by

the year two thousand forty (collectively, the "targets") the statewide

electrical demand system will be zero emissions. In establishing such

program, the commission shall consider and where applicable formulate

the program to address impacts of the program on safe and adequate

electric service in the state under reasonably foreseeable conditions.

The commission may, in designing the program, modify the obligations of

jurisdictional load serving entities and/or the targets upon

consideration of the factors described in this subdivision.

3. No later than July first, two thousand twenty-four and every two

years thereafter, the commission shall, after notice and provision for

the opportunity to comment, issue a comprehensive review of the program

established pursuant to this section. The commission shall determine,

among other matters: (a) progress in meeting the overall targets for

deployment of renewable energy systems and zero emission sources,

including factors that will or are likely to frustrate progress toward

the targets; (b) distribution of systems by size and load zone; and (c)

annual funding commitments and expenditures.

4. The commission may temporarily suspend or modify the obligations

under such program provided that the commission, after conducting a

hearing as provided in section twenty of this chapter, makes a finding

that the program impedes the provision of safe and adequate electric

service; the program is likely to impair existing obligations and

agreements; and/or that there is a significant increase in arrears or

service disconnections that the commission determines is related to the

program.

5. No later than July first, two thousand twenty-four, the commission

shall establish programs to require the procurement by the state's load

serving entities of at least nine gigawatts of offshore wind electricity

generation by two thousand thirty-five and six gigawatts of photovoltaic

solar generation by two thousand twenty-five, and to support three

gigawatts of statewide energy storage capacity by two thousand thirty.

6. In any proceeding commenced by the commission with a goal of

achieving one hundred eighty-five trillion British thermal units of

end-use energy savings below the two thousand twenty-five energy-use

forecast, the commission will include mechanisms to ensure that, where

practicable, at least twenty percent of investments in residential

energy efficiency, including multi-family housing, can be invested in a

manner which will benefit disadvantaged communities, as defined in

article seventy-five of the environmental conservation law, including

low to moderate income consumers.

7. In the implementation of this section, the commission shall design

programs in a manner to provide substantial benefits for disadvantaged

communities, as defined in article seventy-five of the environmental

conservation law, including low to moderate income consumers, at a

reasonable cost while ensuring safe and reliable electric service.

Specifically, the commission shall:

(a) To the extent practicable, specify that a minimum percentage of

energy storage projects should deliver clean energy benefits into NYISO

zones that serve disadvantaged communities, as defined in article

seventy-five of the environmental conservation law, including low to

moderate income consumers, and that energy storage projects be deployed

to reduce the usage of combustion-powered peaking facilities located in

or near disadvantaged communities;

(b) In pursuing the state's solar deployment goals, the New York state

energy research and development authority shall consider enhanced

incentive payments for solar and community distributed generation

projects, focusing in particular but not limited to those serving

disadvantaged communities, as defined in article seventy-five of the

environmental conservation law, which result in energy cost savings or

demonstrate community ownership models; and,

(c) In the allocation of ratepayer funds for clean energy, direct the

New York state energy research and development authority and investor

owned utilities to develop and report metrics for energy savings and

clean energy market penetration in the low and moderate income market

and in disadvantaged communities, as defined in article seventy-five of

the environmental conservation law, and post such information on the

authority's website.

8. The power authority of the state of New York shall, no later than

twelve months after the effective date of this subdivision, file a

petition to commence, and the commission shall commence, necessary

proceedings to enable the power authority of the state of New York to

provide bill credits from renewable energy generating projects under the

renewable energy access and community help program, or "REACH",

established pursuant to subdivision twenty-seven-b of section one

thousand five of the public authorities law, to low-income or

moderate-income end-use electricity consumers in disadvantaged

communities for renewable energy produced by renewable energy generating

projects developed, constructed, owned, or contracted for by the power

authority of the state of New York pursuant to subdivision

twenty-seven-a of section one thousand five of the public authorities

law. Such bill credits shall be in addition to any other renewable

energy program or any other program or benefit that low-income or

moderate-income end-use electricity consumers in disadvantaged

communities receive, and any other incentives made available by the

power authority of the state of New York. For purposes of this

subdivision, a renewable energy system developed, constructed, owned, or

contracted for by the authority shall be:

(a) sized up to and including five megawatts alternating current and

interconnected to the distribution system or transmission system in the

service territory of the electric utility that serves the low-income or

moderate-income end-use consumers that receive bill credits; or

(b) sized above five megawatts alternating current and interconnected

to the distribution or transmission system at one or more points

anywhere in New York state. The commission shall, after public notice

and comment, establish such programs implementing REACH which:

(i) provide that jurisdictional load serving entities shall enter into

agreements with the power authority of the state of New York to carry

out REACH;

(ii) provide that jurisdictional load serving entities shall file

tariffs and other solutions determined by the commission to implement

REACH at a reasonable cost while ensuring safe and reliable electric

service;

(iii) provide that, unless they opt out, low-income or moderate-income

end-use electricity consumers in disadvantaged communities, including

such end-use electricity customers who have or who reside in buildings

that have on-site net-metered generation or who participate in a

community choice aggregation or community distributed generation

project, shall receive bill credits for renewable energy produced by a

renewable energy system developed, constructed, owned, or contracted for

by the power authority of the state of New York pursuant to subdivision

twenty-seven-a of section one thousand five of the public authorities

law;

(iv) consider enhanced incentive payments in bill credits to

low-income or moderate-income end-use electricity consumers in

disadvantaged communities for renewable energy systems including solar

and community distributed generation projects as provided for in

paragraph (b) of subdivision seven of this section;

(v) to the extent practicable include energy storage in renewable

energy systems to deliver clean energy benefits to low-income or

moderate-income end-use electricity consumers in disadvantaged

communities as provided for in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subdivision

seven of this section; and

(vi) address recovery by jurisdictional load serving entities of their

prudently incurred costs of administering REACH in electric service

delivery rates of the utility in whose service territory low-income or

moderate-income end-use electricity consumers in a disadvantaged

community participate in REACH.