STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2571 2017-2018 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 20, 2017 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN, LUPARDO, MOSLEY -- read once and referred to the Committee on Energy AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to a community renewable facility pilot program 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-o to read as follows: 3 § 66-o. New York state community renewable facility pilot program. 1. 4 As used in this section, "community renewable facility" shall mean solar 5 electric generating equipment, wind electric generating equipment and 6 hydroelectric generating equipment not to exceed ten megawatts, which an 7 electric corporation is authorized to own and operate under this 8 section. Such equipment shall be manufactured, installed and operated in 9 conjunction with an electric corporation's transmission and distribution 10 facilities. 11 2. The commission shall establish the New York state community renewa- 12 ble facility pilot program to authorize the development of up to fifty 13 megawatts of community renewable facility capacity statewide, striving 14 for a regional balance, in order to stimulate the growth of community 15 renewable facilities, using a subscription-based model which offers 16 energy for a period of ten years, with electric corporation ownership 17 and management. Any subscription participation by electric corporations 18 shall be on a default basis only in the event of unsold subscriptions. 19 3. The commission shall oversee and approve the implementation of 20 community renewable facility pilot programs by electric corporations 21 which shall include the following elements: 22 (a) Electric corporations shall own or have a long-term lease on the 23 real property where a renewable facility will be constructed and such 24 location shall be strategically located so as to allow for an optimized 25 and more secure and flexible electric power system. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD06150-01-7

A. 2571 2 1 (b) The electric corporation shall own the renewable facility and 2 other infrastructure required to integrate the electricity produced 3 effectively into the grid connecting to the electric system which shall 4 be interconnected and operated in parallel with the electric corpo- 5 ration's distribution facilities. 6 (c) The electric corporations shall issue a request for proposal for 7 the construction for the renewable facility. 8 (d) Customers shall be provided the opportunity to participate in the 9 community renewable facility pilot program on a first come, first serve 10 basis while a percentage of subscriptions shall be retained as deter- 11 mined by the commission for low and moderate income participation. 12 (e) Terms of participation for customers shall be proposed by the 13 electric corporation for review by the commission: 14 (i) the commission shall allow utilities to propose terms whereby 15 participating customers shall receive a block of energy in increments 16 approved by the commission based on the average monthly usage of the 17 customer with a fixed price per kilowatt hour for each block of energy 18 with a rate to remain constant for a fixed period of years as approved 19 by the commission; and 20 (ii) the commissioner shall consider alternate or additional terms of 21 participation as proposed by the electric corporation. 22 (f) Any customer participating in the community renewable facility 23 pilot program shall be exempt from the systems benefits charges and the 24 clean energy standard surcharges based on their subscription. 25 (g) The electric corporation may participate in funding opportunities 26 provided by the New York state energy research and development authority 27 of the New York power authority. 28 4. The economic evaluation of the proposed community renewable facili- 29 ty pilot program by the commission shall include a review of the follow- 30 ing: 31 The electric corporation, in determining the fixed price per kilowatt 32 hour for community renewable facility ownership, shall include the annu- 33 al cost of service on the asset, less the estimated average annual 34 capacity and energy revenue. For purposes of this paragraph, fixed costs 35 in determining the fixed price shall include: project installation, 36 project material, labor, taxes, insurance, operation, maintenance, 37 interconnection costs, the electric corporation's financing costs for 38 the project including cost of debt, depreciation and return on equity, 39 environmental and permitting costs, site security, decommissioning costs 40 and information technology programming costs. 41 5. The participating electric corporation shall: 42 (a) demonstrate to the commission that reasonable efforts shall be 43 made to inform customers of the opportunity to participate in the commu- 44 nity renewable facility pilot program; 45 (b) provide a copy of any customer agreements to be executed as part 46 of the program; 47 (c) provide an examination of the costs, benefits, and risks of any 48 proposal submitted by an electric corporation including the rate impli- 49 cations; and 50 (d) demonstrate that it has entered into a labor peace agreement with 51 a bona-fide labor organization of jurisdiction that is actively engaged 52 in representing or attempting to represent the electric corporation's 53 employees. The maintenance of such a labor peace agreement shall be an 54 ongoing material condition of authorization to own a community renewable 55 facility under this section.

A. 2571 3 1 6. The commission shall provide an annual report on or before the 2 first day of January to the governor, the temporary president of the 3 senate, the speaker of the assembly, the minority leader of the senate 4 and the minority leader of the assembly, on the community renewable 5 facility pilot program. 6 7. No sooner than five years after establishment of the state communi- 7 ty renewable facility pilot program and only after reaching the fifty 8 megawatt cap established pursuant to subdivision one of this section, 9 the commission may increase the cap by an additional maximum of fifty 10 megawatts. 11 8. The commission may suspend or terminate the program authorized 12 under this section for one or more electric corporations provided that 13 the commission, after conducting a hearing as provided in section twenty 14 of this chapter, makes a finding that the program impedes the provision 15 of safe and adequate electric service or that there is a significant 16 increase in arrears or utility service disconnections that the commis- 17 sion determines is related to the program. 18 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided however, that 19 not later than one hundred eighty days after this act shall have become 20 a law, the public service commission shall have in place a competitive 21 process which shall be open to electric corporations.

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