STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8212 2017-2018 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY June 2, 2017 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Energy AN ACT to amend the public authorities law, in relation to enacting the "New York microgrids act" The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Article 8 of the public authorities law is amended by 2 adding a new title 9-B to read as follows: 3 TITLE 9-B 4 NEW YORK MICROGRIDS ACT 5 Section 1900. Short title. 6 1901. Definitions. 7 1902. Purposes. 8 1903. Microgrids of New York grant program. 9 § 1900. Short title. This title shall be known and may be cited as the 10 "New York microgrids act". 11 § 1901. Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms 12 shall have the following meanings: 13 1. "Authority" means the New York state energy research and develop- 14 ment authority continued pursuant to section eighteen hundred fifty-two 15 of this article. 16 2. "Energy insecure regions" means areas of the state that have expe- 17 rienced increased electricity outages due to grid instability, capacity 18 constraints, distribution and transmission line issues. 19 3. "Program" means the microgrids of New York grant program estab- 20 lished pursuant to section nineteen hundred three of this title. 21 4. "Rural areas" shall have the same meaning as is ascribed to such 22 term pursuant to subdivision seven of section four hundred eighty-one of 23 the executive law. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD09837-03-7

A. 8212 2 1 5. "Low-income community" means a census block group, or contiguous 2 area with multiple census block groups, having a low-income population 3 equal to or greater than 23.59 percent of the total population of such 4 block group or groups, or such other percentage as may be determined by 5 the New York state department of environmental conservation. 6 § 1902. Purposes. The purposes of this title are to: 7 1. promote long term reduction of energy costs; 8 2. reduce the capacity demand for the market by drawing less energy 9 from the original grid; 10 3. stabilize energy costs; 11 4. enhance the reliability of energy sources; 12 5. increase energy independence throughout the state; and 13 6. promote reliance on renewable energy sources to help mitigate 14 climate change and achieve the state's energy use reduction goals. 15 § 1903. Microgrids of New York grant program. 1. The authority shall 16 establish and operate the microgrids of New York grant program. Such 17 program shall be implemented by the authority, in consultation with the 18 department of public service, the power authority of the state of New 19 York, the Long Island power authority and the department of environ- 20 mental conservation. In furtherance thereof, the authority shall: 21 (a) use monies made available for the purposes of this title and the 22 program; 23 (b) enter into contracts with constituency based organizations and 24 other entities through the competitive grant process established pursu- 25 ant to subdivision two of this section; 26 (c) enter into contracts with one or more program implementers to 27 perform such functions as the authority deems appropriate; and 28 (d) exercise such other powers as are necessary for the proper imple- 29 mentation of this title. 30 2. The authority shall: 31 (a) issue one or more program opportunity notices or requests for 32 proposals to solicit applications from partnerships comprised of consti- 33 tuency based organizations, which can connect community members to the 34 program, including facilitating awareness of the program and enrollment 35 therein; 36 (b) award grants of not more than one hundred fifty thousand dollars 37 to each approved applicant; 38 (c) with regard to awarding such grants, give preference to: 39 (i) communities in areas of the state where energy costs are a partic- 40 ularly high percentage of a community's median household income as 41 determined by the authority; 42 (ii) communities that would benefit from energy resiliency provided by 43 a microgrid, as demonstrated by prior outage history due to weather or 44 other causes; 45 (iii) low income communities; 46 (iv) energy insecure regions; and 47 (v) rural areas. 48 3. The authority is authorized in consultation with the department of 49 public service, the power authority of the state of New York, the Long 50 Island power authority and the department of environmental conservation, 51 to promulgate such rules and regulations as shall be necessary to imple- 52 ment the provisions of this section. 53 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 54 it shall have become a law.

Enacts the "New York microgrids act"

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