STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5872
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 16, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. METZGER -- 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 and the public authorities law,
in relation to establishing a renewable electricity compliance program
and renewable energy procurements
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-p to read as follows:
3 § 66-p. Establishment of a renewable electricity compliance program.
4 1. As used in this section:
5 (a) "load serving entity" means any entity that secures energy to
6 serve the electrical energy requirements of end-use customers in New
7 York state and includes the distribution companies, energy services
8 companies, municipal utilities, the Long Island power authority, and the
9 New York power authority.
10 (b) "qualified renewable energy systems" means systems that generate
11 electricity or thermal energy through use of the following technologies:
12 photovoltaics, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal electric, geothermal
13 ground source heat, solar thermal, tidal energy, wave energy, ocean
14 thermal, or fuel cells which do not utilize a fossil fuel resource in
15 the process of generating electricity, and is either located in the
16 state of New York or located in a control area adjacent to the New York
17 independent system operator control area and accompanied by documenta-
18 tion of a contract path between the generator and the in-state purchaser
19 that includes transmission rights.
20 (c) "renewable energy credits" or "RECs" represent the environmental
21 attributes of the electricity produced from qualified renewable energy
22 projects and can be sold separately from the electricity itself. One REC
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11692-01-9
S. 5872 2
1 is generated for every megawatt hour of electricity produced by a quali-
2 fied renewable energy system.
3 2. No later than January first, two thousand twenty, the commission
4 shall establish a program to require that a minimum of seventy percent
5 of the electricity secured by load serving entities for all end-use
6 customers in New York state in two thousand thirty shall be generated by
7 renewable energy systems.
8 3. The commission shall set biennial minimum percentages for the
9 program pursuant to the following schedule, and by December thirty-first
10 of the year specified all load-serving entities must comply with the
11 below percentages of the electricity they secure for end-use customers:
12 (a) 2020: 30% from renewable energy systems;
13 (b) 2022: 38% from renewable energy systems;
14 (c) 2024: 46% from renewable energy systems;
15 (d) 2026: 54% from renewable energy systems;
16 (e) 2028: 62% from renewable energy systems; and
17 (f) 2030: 70% from renewable energy systems.
18 4. Specifically, all load serving entities are required to comply with
19 the above percentages by purchasing RECs, either from qualified renewa-
20 ble energy projects directly or from the New York energy research and
21 development authority through their annual sales of the RECs they
22 acquire from qualified renewable energy systems via net-metering, the
23 value of distributed energy resources program, or long-term REC
24 contracts.
25 5. If a load serving entity fails to comply with the above percentages
26 of the electricity they secure for end-use customers coming from quali-
27 fied renewable energy projects in any given year, they will be required
28 to pay an alternative compliance payment, which shall be set at one
29 hundred twenty-five percent of the previous year's New York energy
30 research and development authority REC sale price multiplied by the
31 number of RECs they are short of the requirement. Load serving entities
32 shall be permitted to use any extra RECs they purchase above their
33 requirement in a given year for meeting their compliance requirement in
34 the subsequent two years.
35 6. As part of this program, the commission shall also:
36 (a) Set a minimum requirement of six thousand megawatts alternating
37 current of distributed solar to be in commercial operation in the state
38 by December thirty-first, two thousand twenty-five, and shall consider
39 this requirement in all decisions on net-metering, the value of distrib-
40 uted energy resources, and any other related matters.
41 (b) Set a minimum requirement of nine thousand megawatts alternating
42 current of offshore wind to be in commercial operation serving the state
43 by two thousand thirty-five.
44 (c) Set the requirement for one hundred eighty-five trillion British
45 thermal units of customer-level energy reduction state wide by two thou-
46 sand twenty-five, with thirty-one trillion British thermal units coming
47 from an increase in utility-leveraged energy efficiency investments.
48 § 2. The public authorities law is amended by adding a new section
49 1884 to read as follows:
50 § 1884. Establishment of renewable energy procurements. 1. No later
51 than January first, two thousand twenty, the authority shall establish a
52 program to conduct annual procurements through two thousand thirty for
53 large scale solar and on-shore wind projects to enter into long-term
54 renewable energy credit contracts, indexed renewable energy credit
55 contracts, or bundled contracts, and also publish a schedule of the
S. 5872 3
1 planned procurement amounts and the timing for the coming three years
2 updated annually.
3 2. For the purposes of this section, "renewable energy credit" shall
4 be defined as in section sixty-six-p of the public service law.
5 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.