A proposal released October 27 by staff at the New York State Department of Public Services would transition the state away from its current net metering system and instead price distributed energy based on its energy, grid and environmental values. The report said the state’s current pricing methods don’t take the value of distributed energy fully into account.
Under the proposal, utilities will be paid for developing distributed energy, in fee-based ‘virtual generation portfolios’, developed in partnership with private companies. Utilities would be paid based on the project’s worth to the utility’s overall operation.
Among other recommendations:
• Unbundle and publicly identify all the elements that contribute to the full value of distributed energy resources.
• As an interim measure, community-based distributed generation projects that are in an advanced state of development would be allowed to stay with net metering for a limited time before transitioning to the more comprehensive compensation approaches.
New York is trying to drive more use of renewables, energy efficiency and energy conservation technologies, so that renewables provide half of the state’s electricity by 2030.
The staff report is available on the Public Service Commission website, www3.dps.ny.gov/, Case Number 15-E-0751, here.