Modifies various provisions of State's renewable energy incentive programs; requires electric public utilities to consider interconnection applications for certain solar projects.*
What changed between versions
Co-location of solar facilities is no longer automatically permitted. Developers must now petition the board, and the petition must confirm that co-location is driven by interconnection constraints rather than an attempt to obtain a higher incentive value than would be available if projects were not co-located.
Projects that fail to achieve commercial operation within the 33-month deadline can now re-register regardless of whether program capacity limits have been reached. The previous automatic day-for-day extension for utility-caused interconnection delays was removed.
Remote net metering projects on brownfields, contaminated sites, or landfills now have specific pre-construction and post-construction environmental requirements: approved remedial action work plans before construction, and engineering controls with a remedial action permit (or department closure determination for landfills) after construction is complete.
Solar facilities on landfills, brownfields, contaminated sites, or mining sites are now capped at 20 megawatts (measured in AC) for community solar program eligibility, down from no size restriction. The remote net metering program was removed from this provision, and a December 31, 2028 deadline was added.
The zoning threshold for renewable energy facilities to be permitted uses in municipal industrial districts was reduced from 20 contiguous acres to 10 contiguous acres, making it easier for smaller projects to qualify.
Commercial or industrial rooftops were added as eligible sites alongside landfills, brownfields, contaminated sites, and mining sites for the 33-month commercial operation deadline provision and for permitted use in every municipality.
A new subsection was added to the remote net metering statute clarifying that solar facilities on landfills, brownfields, contaminated sites, or mining sites may include associated or contiguous lands developed as part of the same project, with no limitation based on the proportion of such lands relative to total project area or capacity.
Battery storage facilities were added to the list of permitted uses on brownfields, contaminated sites, mining sites, and closed resource extraction operations in every municipality.
Electric lines at 34.5 kV or less are no longer automatically classified as distribution lines. They are now considered distribution lines unless FERC or a court of competent jurisdiction has made a final determination that the line is a transmission line subject to FERC jurisdiction.
A new definition for 'Federal Energy Regulatory Commission' or 'FERC' was added, referencing section 3 of P.L.1999, c.23.
The definition of 'mining site' was restructured so that a 'closed resource extraction facility' must now be located on land classified as extractive mining, rather than being an independent category alongside it.
The capacity measurement for remote net metering projects was changed from direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC).
