Authorizes and directs the public service commission to conduct a study on the deployment of energy interconnection processes into the electrical grid to meet the state's renewable energy goals set out under the climate leadership and community protection act; directs the public service commission to submit a report on its findings one year after the effective date.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4127
SPONSOR: Stirpe TITLE OF BILL:
An act to authorize and direct the public service commission to conduct
a study on the deployment of energy interconnection processes into the
electrical grid
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To produce a study on regulatory barriers to the deployment of energy
interconnection processes in the state
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 authorizes the Public Service Commission to conduct a study on
the deployment of energy interconnection processes.
Section 2 directs the Public Service Commission to submit a report on
their findings to the governor, the speaker of the assembly, and tempo-
rary president of the senate, along with any recommendations.
Section 3 provides definitions for "energy interconnect on process,"
"electrical grid," and "renewable energy resources."
Section 4 establishes the effective date of the bill.
JUSTIFICATION:
In order to reach the goals, set out by the Climate and Community
Protection Act, New York State must examine how each part of our power
system works and maximize the efficiency at which we operate. One area
that has received lots of national focus is the interconnection process.
Interconnection is the process through which power generation facilities
are connected to the larger energy grid. Last July, the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) mandated changes to transmission providers'
interconnection rules, aiming to address requests from generators and
energy storage developers to connect to the grid.
One process that has received a lot of attention is the "connect and
manage" approach. In our current approach, there is an interconnection
queue, and a study must be completed for each proposed project to ensure
that the overall grid system has capacity before a project is allowed to
connect to the grid. The queue can be delayed because an extensive study
must be completed for each proposed energy production facility. However,
in a connect and manage approach, production generation facilities are
brought onto the,grid. This allows for much faster deployment of new
renewable energy generation projects, as this is a much more efficient
process. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has seen
success in bringing in new energy at a rapid clip onto the grid after
adopting this type of approach.
This bill is designed to holistically study our interconnection process
in New York State and ensure that our process can bring enough renewable
energy onto the grid to hit our important climate change goals. There
are a wide variety of system changes, processes, and new technologies
that can be studied to ensure maximum productivity in bringing new elec-
tric production onto the grid.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023 - 2024: referred to energy / AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO ENERGY AND TELE-
COMMUNICATIONS
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
TBD
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
