Bill Text: NY S03521 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Expands customer access to community distributed generation by creating a model tariff to provide for the transfer of bill credits associated with electricity produced by community distributed generation facilities in one electric corporation territory to other territories.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 27-1)

Status: (Vetoed) 2021-12-29 - VETOED MEMO.75 [S03521 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S03521-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         3521--A

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 30, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens.  PARKER, ADDABBO, BAILEY, BIAGGI, BRESLIN, BROOKS,
          COMRIE, GAUGHRAN, GIANARIS, GOUNARDES, HARCKHAM, HOYLMAN, KAPLAN, LIU,
          MAY, MYRIE, PERSAUD, RAMOS, SKOUFIS, STAVISKY, THOMAS  --  read  twice
          and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee
          on   Energy  and  Telecommunications  --  committee  discharged,  bill
          amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said  commit-
          tee

        AN  ACT  to amend the public service law, in relation to the transfer of
          bill credits associated with the  electricity  produced  by  community
          distributed generation facilities

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the  "Community
     2  Solar for Disadvantaged Communities Act".
     3    §  2.  The  Legislature  hereby  finds that as a result of the Climate
     4  Leadership and Community Protection Act, New York State  has  two  goals
     5  that are wholly compatible: the leading-edge goal to build six gigawatts
     6  of  distributed  solar  generation  by  2025, and to provide benefits to
     7  disadvantaged communities through the provision  of  low-cost  renewable
     8  power; that recent estimates indicate New York State needs to accelerate
     9  the  build  out of solar deployment by at least six hundred thirty mega-
    10  watts per year by 2025 to achieve the first goal; that New York City  is
    11  the  home  to  the four most underserved counties for solar power in the
    12  state, with seven percent of the solar generation yet forty-one  percent
    13  of  the population; that New York City is the home to the largest number
    14  of low and moderate income rate payers, including fifty-five percent  of
    15  the state's low income residents; that New York city has a laudable goal
    16  of  two  hundred fifty megawatts of community solar to address a portion
    17  of the need; so New York State must pair together these two vital  goals
    18  to  ensure  that  the  economic  and environmental benefits of renewable
    19  solar power are available to  all  residents,  especially  disadvantaged

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06837-02-1
        S. 3521--A                          2

     1  communities,  through  a  process  of  removing  regulatory barriers and
     2  unlocking consumer savings, while avoiding the need  for  costly  short-
     3  term transmission upgrades.
     4    § 3. The public service law is amended by adding a new section 66-q to
     5  read as follows:
     6    § 66-q. Community distributed generation facility bill credits.  1. As
     7  used in this section, the term "community distributed generation facili-
     8  ty"  shall  mean a photovoltaic system with a rated capacity of not more
     9  than five megawatts of alternating current that is connected to an elec-
    10  tric system and operated in conjunction with an  electric  corporation's
    11  transmission   and  distribution  facilities.    Participating  electric
    12  customers receive a bill credit for the electricity generated in propor-
    13  tion to the size of their interest in the facility, with at least  sixty
    14  percent  of the facility's production allocated to participating custom-
    15  ers in increments of twenty-five kilowatts or less.
    16    2. Within ninety days of the  effective  date  of  this  section,  the
    17  commission  shall  direct  electric  corporations to file a model tariff
    18  providing for the transfer of bill credits associated with the electric-
    19  ity produced by community distributed generation facilities in one elec-
    20  tric corporation territory to the accounts of subscribers in other elec-
    21  tric corporation territories,  and  any  other  settlement  systems  and
    22  processes  necessary  to  effectuate  such transfers in a cost-effective
    23  manner. Following public comment on the model tariff, the public service
    24  commission shall, within two hundred seventy days of the effective  date
    25  of this section, approve tariffs to enable such transfers.
    26    3.  Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision two, nothing in this
    27  section shall be construed to impede  community  distributed  generation
    28  development  within a city with a population of one million or more. The
    29  commission may, at its discretion, review  the  compensation  mechanisms
    30  for  community  distributed  generation sited within such city to ensure
    31  the market is achieving its potential, given the limited  real  property
    32  for solar development.
    33    4. The provisions of section three hundred forty-nine-d of the general
    34  business  law  shall  also  benefit  customers  of community distributed
    35  generation facilities designated under this section.
    36    § 4. The public service law is amended by adding a new section 66-r to
    37  read as follows:
    38    § 66-r. Community distributed generation  facility  bill  credits  for
    39  disadvantaged  communities. All community distributed generation facili-
    40  ties that are specifically designated  for  participation  in  the  bill
    41  credit  system  established  under  section  sixty-six-q of this article
    42  shall provide at least thirty-five  percent  of  the  credits  from  the
    43  aggregate  generation resulting from the designated projects under their
    44  ownership to disadvantaged communities as defined under subdivision five
    45  of section 75-0101 of  the  environmental  conservation  law,  including
    46  within  low  and  moderate  income  communities as defined in the low to
    47  moderate income census population analysis tool of the  New  York  state
    48  energy  and  research  development  authority  pursuant to matter number
    49  16-00681 of the public service commission.
    50    § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.