NEW YORK PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
PSC Lowers Costs for Distributed Solar Industry

The New York State Public Service Commission (Commission) today (Feb 13) made changes to the New York State Standardized Interconnection Requirements to allow alternatives to cash deposits for certain distribution upgrades, with some limited modifications.

"Allowing developers to use financial alternatives for certain interconnection milestone payments would eliminate the burden of posting cash and enable developers to redeploy resources to develop additional distributed energy projects while providing the utilities appropriate financial security," said Commission Chair Rory M. Christian. "And it will further cement our leadership role in developing new sources of electricity supply. We are leading by example on distributed solar directly because of Governor Hochul's efforts and she has the track record to prove it."

In October, New York completed the installation of 6 gigawatts of distributed solar a year ahead of the state's 2025 target and is ahead of schedule for reaching the expanded 10-gigawatt distributed solar goal with almost 3.4 gigawatts in development. New York State has been ranked number one in the solar market nationally over the last two years.

Today's action follows other notable accomplishments that support the solar industry:

• The state has advanced a number of policies to support the development of a mature distributed solar market under the NY-Sun Program, VDER value stack, and Statewide Solar for All while making progress towards our objectives.
• The state has worked with the solar industry to create clear requirements for any new distributed generation project to connect to the electric grid and continuously evaluates these rules to adapt to changes in policy and market dynamics.
• Since 1999, New York has had standardized interconnection requirements (SIRs) in place for distributed generators and energy storage systems for developers and utilities for the interconnection of new projects, including rules governing the allocation of system upgrade costs to developers. In 2016, the state modified the rules, with industry support, to streamline the interconnection process.
• The Department of Public Service and NYSERDA also work to resolve any issues that arise with utility interconnection with the utilities and industry through the distributed generation ombudsperson program.
• Additionally, the Commission established a nation-leading practice by creating two stakeholder working groups where developers and utilities can propose amendments to the SIRs through a collaborative process and make recommendations for improvements to the Commission.
• During Governor Hochul's administration, with the solar industry's support, the Commission implemented new rules for sharing the costs of infrastructure upgrades required for interconnection. These rules significantly reduce up-front cost to all projects that share in the need for an upgrade.
• Also in 2024, the Commission supported the industry in affirming the validity of interconnection agreements signed pursuant to the SIRs when it denied National Grid's request to charge a group of developers for upgrade costs identified after interconnection agreements were executed.
• Further, following the directive in the Renewable Action through Project Interconnection and Deployment (RAPID) Act in last year's budget and proposed by Governor Hochul, the Department of Public Service initiated a proceeding to investigate alleged delays in the SIRs interconnection process and recently expanded the proceeding to improve the accuracy of utilities' cost estimating practices.

Today's decision may be obtained by going to the Commission Documents section of the Commission's Web site at www.dps.ny.gov and entering Case Number 24-E-0414 in the input box labeled "Search for Case/Matter Number". Many libraries offer free Internet access. Commission documents may also be obtained from the Commission's Files Office, 14th floor, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12223 (518-474-2500). If you have difficulty understanding English, please call us at 1-800-342-3377 for free language assistance services regarding this press release.