NY Pub Serv L § 66-P (2021)
2021 New York Laws PBS - Public Service Article 4 - Provisions Relating to Gas and Electric Corporations; Regulation of Price of Gas and Electricity 66-P - Establishment of a Renewable Energy Program.

§  66-p.  Establishment  of  a renewable energy program. 1. As used in this section:  (a) "jurisdictional load serving entity" means any entity  subject  to the  jurisdiction  of  the  commission  that secures energy to serve the electrical energy requirements of end-use customers in New York state;  (b) "renewable energy systems" means systems that generate electricity or thermal energy through  use  of  the  following  technologies:  solar thermal,  photovoltaics,  on  land  and  offshore  wind,  hydroelectric, geothermal electric, geothermal ground source heat, tidal  energy,  wave energy, ocean thermal, and fuel cells which do not utilize a fossil fuel resource in the process of generating electricity.   2.  No  later  than  June  thirtieth,  two  thousand  twenty-one,  the commission shall establish a program to require that: (a) a  minimum  of seventy  percent  of  the  state  wide  electric  generation  secured by jurisdictional load serving  entities  to  meet  the  electrical  energy requirements  of all end-use customers in New York state in two thousand thirty shall be generated by renewable energy systems; and (b)  that  by the  year two thousand forty (collectively, the "targets") the statewide electrical demand system will be zero emissions.  In  establishing  such program,  the  commission  shall consider and where applicable formulate the program to address impacts of  the  program  on  safe  and  adequate electric  service  in the state under reasonably foreseeable conditions. The commission may, in designing the program, modify the obligations  of jurisdictional   load   serving   entities   and/or   the  targets  upon consideration of the factors described in this subdivision.   3. No later than July first, two thousand twenty-four  and  every  two years  thereafter,  the commission shall, after notice and provision for the opportunity to comment, issue a comprehensive review of the  program established  pursuant  to  this section. The commission shall determine, among other matters: (a) progress in meeting  the  overall  targets  for deployment  of  renewable  energy  systems  and  zero  emission sources, including factors that will or are likely to frustrate  progress  toward the  targets; (b) distribution of systems by size and load zone; and (c) annual funding commitments and expenditures.   4. The commission may temporarily suspend or  modify  the  obligations under  such  program  provided  that  the commission, after conducting a hearing as provided in section twenty of this chapter, makes  a  finding that  the  program  impedes  the provision of safe and adequate electric service; the program  is  likely  to  impair  existing  obligations  and agreements;  and/or  that  there is a significant increase in arrears or service disconnections that the commission determines is related to  the program.   5.  No later than July first, two thousand twenty-four, the commission shall establish programs to require the procurement by the state's  load serving entities of at least nine gigawatts of offshore wind electricity generation by two thousand thirty-five and six gigawatts of photovoltaic solar  generation  by  two  thousand  twenty-five,  and to support three gigawatts of statewide energy storage capacity by two thousand thirty.   6. In any proceeding commenced  by  the  commission  with  a  goal  of achieving  one  hundred  eighty-five  trillion  British thermal units of end-use energy savings below the  two  thousand  twenty-five  energy-use forecast,  the  commission will include mechanisms to ensure that, where practicable, at least  twenty  percent  of  investments  in  residential energy  efficiency, including multi-family housing, can be invested in a manner which will  benefit  disadvantaged  communities,  as  defined  in article  seventy-five  of  the environmental conservation law, including low to moderate income consumers.    7. In the implementation of this section, the commission shall  design programs  in  a manner to provide substantial benefits for disadvantaged communities, as defined in article  seventy-five  of  the  environmental conservation  law,  including  low  to  moderate  income consumers, at a reasonable  cost  while  ensuring  safe  and  reliable electric service. Specifically, the commission shall:  (a) To the extent practicable, specify that a  minimum  percentage  of energy  storage projects should deliver clean energy benefits into NYISO zones that  serve  disadvantaged  communities,  as  defined  in  article seventy-five  of  the  environmental  conservation law, including low to moderate income consumers, and that energy storage projects be  deployed to  reduce the usage of combustion-powered peaking facilities located in or near disadvantaged communities;  (b) In pursuing the state's solar deployment goals, the New York state energy  research  and  development  authority  shall  consider  enhanced incentive  payments  for  solar  and  community  distributed  generation projects, focusing in  particular  but  not  limited  to  those  serving disadvantaged  communities,  as  defined  in article seventy-five of the environmental conservation law, which result in energy cost  savings  or demonstrate community ownership models; and,  (c)  In the allocation of ratepayer funds for clean energy, direct the New York state energy research and development  authority  and  investor owned  utilities  to  develop  and report metrics for energy savings and clean energy market penetration in the low and  moderate  income  market and  in disadvantaged communities, as defined in article seventy-five of the environmental conservation law, and post  such  information  on  the authority's website.