By William Opalka

ALBANY, N.Y. — The New York Public Service Commission last week updated interconnection rules for solar projects larger than 50 kW in an effort to break a logjam in utilities’ queues (16-E-0560).

The order sets deadlines and payment schedules for system upgrades to cull inactive projects from the queues and free up space for those projects further along in their development cycles.

The projects covered by the new rules are from above 50 kW to 2 MW. The PSC said more than 2,000 projects in that category were filed with the state’s utilities from April through December 2016. Many of those projects are community shared solar developments, intended to expand the benefits to customer pools who are unable to install solar generation on their own properties.

“These new requirements will help determine whether a proposed solar project is viable and should move forward to construction,” commission Chair Audrey Zibelman said in a statement. “Every proposal requires a lengthy, in-depth analysis to determine whether it is feasible and, too often, unrealistic projects have been getting in the way of workable proposals.”

Although it did not cite statistics, the PSC said that multiple developers have filed interconnection requests for the same projects, exacerbating the logjam.

The utilities filed a joint proposal in September that was endorsed in whole or in part by 20 stakeholders.

The new rules include fixed decision deadlines and cost-sharing requirements for the required system upgrades. Developers must prove they have exclusive permission or a land-use agreement from a property owner for a specific project.

To remain in the queue, projects with a completed coordinated electric system interconnection review must pay 25% of the system upgrade costs to the utility and execute a standard interconnection agreement.

The rules would apply to those projects currently undergoing the interconnection review along with newer projects that have had only a preliminary review. Projects that fail to comply would be removed from the queue.

Projects that have been delayed by municipal moratoria can hold their positions by either paying the 25% system cost upgrade or executing an interconnection agreement.

The order also includes an interim cost-sharing mechanism in which the first developer in an affected area pays 100% of the system upgrade costs and is reimbursed by later projects that enjoy the same benefit.

PSC staff will work on a more permanent solution, the commission said.

The plan updates the standard interconnection requirements first adopted in 1999. The requirements have been updated several times since, including last March (15-E-0557), but the queue continued to pile up.

“The interconnection queue backlog presents a serious challenge to the commission’s goals for increased solar installations, renewable power, and creating efficient markets for distributed energy resources, as contemplated in the [Reforming the Energy Vision] proceeding,” the PSC wrote.

The six investor-owned utilities — Central Hudson Gas & Electric, Consolidated Edison, New York State Electric and Gas, National Grid, Orange & Rockland Utilities and Rochester Gas and Electric — must file tariff amendments and updated interconnection requirements that would become effective on March 1.