Bill Text: NJ S2816 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Requires electric public utilities to submit to BPU and implement electric infrastructure improvement plans.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-04 - Reported from Senate Committee with Amendments, 2nd Reading [S2816 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S2816-Amended.html
Sponsored by:
Senator BOB SMITH
District 17 (Middlesex and Somerset)
Senator JOHN F. MCKEON
District 27 (Essex and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Requires electric public utilities to submit to BPU and implement electric infrastructure improvement plans.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As reported by the Senate Environment and Energy Committee on March 4, 2024, with amendments.
An Act concerning distributed energy sources and supplementing Title 48 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. As used in this section:
"Board" means the Board of Public Utilities.
"Reactive power" means the portion of alternating current electricity, measured in volt-amperes reactive, that cannot do useful work due to a misalignment of the current and voltage waveforms of the electricity.
b. The Board of Public Utilities shall require each electric public utility to file, no later than 90 days after the effective date of this act, an electric infrastructure improvement plan, in accordance with procedures established by the board. The purpose of the plans shall be to reopen many of the State's electric distribution circuits that have been closed to any additional renewable energy installations, or restricted to 100 kilowatts or less of remaining circuit capacity. 1A plan shall not be required to include infrastructure improvements to the electric transmission system.1 Each plan shall include provisions for:
(1) permitting the flow of electricity, through an electrical substation, from the distribution system to the transmission system;
(2) requiring solar inverters to include, activate, and utilize all available inverter technology that allows the inverter to inject and absorb reactive power autonomously or in response to remote control;
(3) requiring energy storage systems to include, activate, and utilize all available inverter technology that allows the energy storage system to inject and absorb real and reactive power;
(4) requiring solar photovoltaic systems to include, activate, and use technology and services that enable the power output of the system to respond to short-term predictions of weather conditions to control the rate of change of power output or other system parameters; and
(5) any additional low-cost and highly actionable potential solutions identified by an electric public utility to reopen closed electric distribution circuits to renewable energy installations.
c. No later than 120 days after the effective date of this act, the board shall review and approve, 1[or]1 approve with modifications, 1or disapprove1 each electric infrastructure improvement plan. As a condition of approval, the board shall require each electric public utility to schedule the associated work to be completed at the earliest date possible.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
