Dive Brief:

• New York regulators are seeking comment on a pair of proposals to boost utility distributed resources, including additional options for Community Distributed Generation (CDG) and methods to develop 1.5 GW of energy storage by 2025.
• In July, regulators issued a white paper that recommended enhancing compensation under the Public Service Commission's Value of Distributed Energy Resources mechanism, including creating new opportunities for customers in service territories where utilities have hit distributed generation caps. The comment period runs through Oct. 22.
• Regulators say they are also looking for public input on whether to adopt recommendations set forth in the New York State Energy Storage Roadmap, and will hold two public sessions to receive comment, Oct. 23 and 24.

Dive Insight:

New York regulators are working to wholly rethink the utility sector, which includes fine-tuning policies as they are developed. The community programs aim to broaden renewable energy participation, and a pair of utilities have already hit their allotted MW capacity for the community solar program; now regulators are considering expansions.

In the Orange & Rockland and Central Hudson territories, more than 190 MW of CDG are already in service and previously approved incentives have been fully subscribed. Commission staff have proposed increasing market transition credits for about 100 MW of new projects split between the utilities "in order to nurture continued market growth while managing overall costs."

The credits are a part of New York's efforts to better value distributed energy resources, and aim to raise any compensation values below net energy metering rates up to that level as the market ramps up.

The PSC also noted that its staff paper recommended existing market transition credits be "enhanced and standardized across upstate utility territories" in order to ensure sufficient opportunities. 

Those "enhanced credits" would be available to more than 700 MW of new projects, said regulators, "thereby creating robust CDG opportunity for New Yorkers across the state." The proposal also recommends "adjustments to market transition credits available in Con Edison for almost 400 MW of new CDG projects."

The PSC is also seeking comment on the role energy storage will play in New York's energy future. The commission is considering adopting recommendations from the Energy Storage Roadmap filed by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) in June.

NYSERDA and the Department of Public Service have already held technical conferences in collaboration with the New York Green Bank, the New York ISO, Long Island Power Authority and PSEG Long Island, "to present the Roadmap recommendations and seek input from stakeholders."

The PSC last month accepted the results of the environmental assessment it commissioned of the state's storage roadmap. Along with the storage target, New York is aiming to meet 50% of electric power needs with clean energy sources by 2030.