Bill Text: NJ S245 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires BPU to study and implement methods to allow additional distributed energy sources to interconnect to electrical grid.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Environment and Energy Committee [S245 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S245-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator BOB SMITH
District 17 (Middlesex and Somerset)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senator Greenstein
SYNOPSIS
Requires BPU to study and implement methods to allow additional distributed energy sources to interconnect to electrical grid.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
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. The Board of Public Utilities shall conduct a study for the purposes of:
(1) identifying, researching, and quantifying the effects of short-term solutions that could benefit the reliability of the electrical transmission and distribution system and enable segments of the electrical transmission and distribution system to host greater amounts of power from new distributed energy generation sources; and
(2) planning for pilot testing and the adoption of rules and regulations to implement the solutions found pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection.
b. The board shall consider the following potential solutions, as well as any additional potential solutions identified by the board:
(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 use 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 use technology that allows the energy storage system to inject or absorb real and reactive power; and
(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 the power output, or other system parameters.
c. No later than one year after the effective date of this act, the board shall prepare and submit to the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature, a report containing the findings and recommendations of the board, including any recommendations for legislative, regulatory, or local governmental action to open up additional segments of the transmission and distribution system to new distributed energy generation sources.
d. 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.
"Transmission and distribution system" means the same as the term is defined in section 3 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-51).
2. No later than one year after the board transmits the report required pursuant to subsection c. of section 1 of this act, the board shall adopt, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), rules and regulations that implement the report's recommendations for regulatory action. The rules and regulations shall initially implement the recommendations as a pilot program in a small region or regions of the State, and then, if the pilot program is determined by the board to be successful, the board shall provide for Statewide implementation of the rules and regulations.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would require the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to conduct a study for the purpose of identifying, researching, and quantifying the effects of short-term solutions that could enable segments of the electrical transmission and distribution system to host greater amounts of power from distributed energy generation sources. The study would also including planning for the testing and implementation of the solutions.
The bill would require the BPU to consider the following potential solutions, as well as any additional potential solutions identified by the BPU:
(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 use 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 use technology that allows the energy storage system to inject or absorb real and reactive power; and
(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 prediction of weather conditions to control the rate-of-change of the power output, or other system parameters.
As defined by the bill, "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.
The bill would require the BPU to submit a final report on its study to the Governor and the Legislature within one year after the bill's effective date, which contains recommendations for legislative, regulatory, or local governmental action. The bill would also require the BPU to adopt rules and regulations to implement the recommended regulatory action, within one year after the final report is published. The bill would direct the BPU to initially apply the recommendations as a pilot program and then, if successful, provide for Statewide implementation of the rules and regulations.
