New York Solar Energy Industries Association (NYSEIA) has proposed a long-term plan that would base solar electric incentives on performance, location and project size to help New York achieve its clean energy goals at the lowest cost to utility ratepayers.
NYSEIA is calling on Gov. David A. Patterson, the State Legislature and the Public Service Commission (PSC) to immediately take needed actions to put the state on target to reach its goals of meeting 45% of the state’s electricity needs through improved energy efficiency and clean renewable energy by the year 2015.
NYSEIA said the state must change its “core values” when expanding the current plan funded through the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to prevent falling short, noting that the state has spent over $700 million to reach 62% of its interim goal.
NYSEIA continues to endorse the Solar PV roadmap developed by stakeholders in 2006 calling for 2000 megawatts (MW) of solar electric generation in the state over a 10 year period as a primary mover in meeting the State’s goals.
“We support the state in creating a long-term solution that will enable the solar industry to continue to grow and create green jobs, taxes and economic growth in New York, while helping achieve energy independence from fossil fuels,” said NYSEIA President Ron Kamen, Senior Vice President of EarthKind Solar.
NYSEIA supports creating five tiers of solar systems eligible for incentives that have specific goals or carve outs to ensure all classes of customers and generators can participate. These would be: residential and small commercial (under 80KW); commercial (80KW to 500 KW); commercial and developer owned (500KW to 2 MW); large developer/utility PPA (2-plus MW); and utility owned utility owned or power purchase agreements (PPAs)(over 20MW.)
New programs should complement existing programs funded through the RPS and should be performance based with a transition period away from up-front capacity-based incentives, and should be designed to continue past the scheduled expiration of the RPS, the Association said.
In addition, municipalities and not for profits should benefit from an incentive structure that places them on equal footing with the private sector, and utilities should be allowed to own “green attributes” or Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECS), for the solar power they buy
Feed-in Tariffs Supported
NYSEIA supports legislation that will result in feed-in tariffs (FiT), government policies that require utilities to purchase electricity produced by renewable generators, for a guaranteed 20 years with “must sell”/”must take” provisions for generators and utilities, respectively. Annual reductions in the FiT for systems newly placed online will serve to reduce the long term cost and market signals should be used to determine the new FIT.
NYSEIA is calling on the state to expand the Customer-Sited Tier (CST) funding in the RPS to a fixed value of $50 million for each of the remaining years in the RPS and to develop a funding mechanism for after it ends.
Other changes the solar association is recommending include directingNew York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the administrator of the RPS, to reinvest unused Main Tier funds into immediate follow up solicitations in the CST, where the appetite for solar has been demonstrably strong.
The association also is calling for New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to develop a block step plan, or performance-based incentives (PBI), with declining incentives. This plan can be used to administer and fund the CST, as well as the currently unserved 80-500KW sector, until a FiT is available.
For PV development of systems greater than 2 MW, the Association recommends that the utilities be directed to use PPAs and ratebasing to fund Main Tier solicitations.
Both PBI and FiT should be cost-based, not value based, and the overall program should have a cap of 2% cost to the rate payers on an annualized basis, the group said.
“These funding measures would ensure the smooth uninterrupted stream of funds for predictable and known projects, and will signal that solar in NY is here to stay and worthy of business investments,” Kamen said.
“By accelerating the deployment of PV, we can ensure we will reach the point that incentives are no longer required and we can all breathe a breath of fresh air from our clean power,” concluded Kamen.
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