What's happening
Writing a plain-English summary… Track this bill to get it by email.
Why it matters
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Headline styles
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Substituted by A5525A
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.609
- Referred to energy and telecommunications
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Requires the Long Island power authority to conform to safety standards regarding manual lockable disconnect switches for solar electric generating equipment
Signed by Governor · Sponsor Steven Englebright
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S4548
Title of bill
An act to amend the public authorities law, in relation to external disconnect switches on solar electric generating equipment
Purpose or general idea of bill
To eliminate any requirement that solar electric generating equipment of less than 25 kilowatts have an external disconnect switch.
Summary of specific provisions
Under no circumstances shall such standards require the use of such a manual lockable disconnect switch on residential solar electric equipment of not more than twenty-five kilo watts, when such equipment is in compliance with Underwriters Laboratories interconnection standard 1747. The authority shall comply with the provisions of section sixty-six-j of the public service law.
Justification
In February 2009, the state's Public Service Commission issued a ruling requiring that all utility companies eliminate the requirement for the external disconnect switch used in solar installations sized 25kW and smaller.
Since that ruling, all the state's utility companies have complied however the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), a state owned utility company, has not.
All solar energy converting equipment currently sold on the market today, are required to meet the rigid standards of IEEE 1547 and UL 1741 anti Islanding provisions, preventing "grid connected" inverter equipment from back feeding power to the grid when there is a utility power failure.
Requiring a redundant manual disconnect switch only adds to the cost of an already expensive solar installation between $700 and $1400 to the customer.
This amendment changes the current law to reflect the February PSC deci- sion.
Prior legislative history
2009-2010: S.7712, Passed Senate
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.