The New York Public Service Commission, in an order released Friday, raised the allowable size of distributed energy projects and took further action to make it easier for projects to connect to the grid.
The order increases the size of distributed generation projects from 2 MW to 5 MW under the state's standardized interconnection requirements rules.
"While other states have recently slowed solar development through regulatory actions, New York has strongly embraced the development of renewable power as it considers changes to encourage and promote the financing and installation of solar and other clean power sources," Audrey Zibelman, the PSC's chairwoman, said in a statement.
The overall goal of the order is to speed and enhance the interconnection process, Zibelman said.
In 2012 there were about 2,000 interconnection applications in New York under the standardized interconnection process. In 2015 there were 11,000 applications.
"It was, however, the increase of larger solar projects in the above 300 kW to 2 MW range that stressed the process significantly in 2015," the order said.
Changes to the approval process are intended to improve developers' ability to interconnect their systems without undue delays while allowing utilities to better process and analyze large numbers of distributed generation applications quickly and efficiently, the order said.
The modifications are meant to reduce pressure on the interconnection queue as soon as possible and reduce and improve the process, but additional improvements are needed and more changes will follow, it said.
"All sides agree that near-term improvements to the SIR should be a priority and implemented as soon as possible," the order said.
Utilities are reviewing the order for specific changes and new rules.
"We do not know how this will affect the number or size of applications and installations," John Maserjian, a spokesman for Central Hudson Gas & Electric, said Friday, adding the company had not yet received the order.
The latest changes to the standardized interconnection process have been debated under a proposed rulemaking established in November. In general, the state's large utilities support expanding the project eligibility to 5 MW, the order said.
Other parties suggested increasing the eligibility to 20 MW. The PSC rejected that proposals, saying the standardized interconnection requirements are for distribution level projects.
Projects larger than 5 MW are generally connected to the transmission system and handled by the New York Independent System Operator's interconnection process.
Other changes include the reduction of upfront interconnection costs. Developers had been required to pay 100% of the interconnection cost before any work on a project could begin. The upfront cost has been reduced to 25%.
