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This study assesses the social and economic impacts of a 350 MW solar PV project to be installed on approximately 40 farms in the Town of Hartland, Niagara County, New York area by EDF Renewables. This study identifies between $177 million to $229 million in revenues and other benefits delivered by the Ridge View project to the Hartland community and surrounding areas. The study demonstrates that the project will increase and diversify participating farm revenues, support community investment, create jobs for construction and maintenance, and increase spending in the local community, helping create opportunities for diversifying the local economy. The study recommends careful project siting practices, including setbacks and visual buffers to mitigate potential aesthetic and environmental impacts, thereby ensuring the preservation of community welfare and land values.

This study examines the legal and regulatory issues confronting the development of district geothermal energy systems in the State of New York. Although geothermal technology is a reliable and economically feasible zero-emission source of building heat, resolving regulatory and property rights and permitting issues required to adopt district geothermal systems pose significant barriers. We evaluate geothermal projects along a continuum of complexity�鶹��ý�from single owner systems�鶹��ý�including a single owner of multiple buildings on a single parcel of land (such as a college campus)�鶹��ý�to systems that involve multiple owners of buildings on numerous parcels of land (such as serving a downtown core). This study considers how property rights and permitting regimes governing geothermal projects can inform potential business models to advance the technology and presents recommendations for State authorities to consider in order to scale geothermal energy technology to meaningfully contribute to New York State�鶹��ý�s meeting its greenhouse gas emission-reduction mandates under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

To meet Paris Agreement greenhouse gas reduction targets, gas distribution utilities and the buildings they serve�鶹��ý�residential, small commercial, and large commercial and industrial buildings�鶹��ý�must fully decarbonize. This paper proposes a Zero Net Gas demand reduction framework to achieve decarbonization of the buildings sector. The Zero Net Gas Framework is a policy and regulatory pathway to start reversing gas dependence in buildings, towards deep decarbonization. The ZNG strategy posits that gas consumption must be capped in the near-term�鶹��ý�and incrementally reduced where possible�鶹��ý�by pairing new gas demand with reductions in existing inefficient gas use through demand-side measures, such as energy efficiency, heat pumps and renewable heating technologies such as solar thermal, non-pipe solutions, and demand response programs. The Framework focuses on reducing peak demand as a means of stopping gas infrastructure expansion, as well as reducing total gas usage in order to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. The Zero Net Gas Framework is the first step toward deep decarbonization: by providing a mechanism for states to halt the growth of gas, regulators and stakeholders establish a pathway to achieving mid-century climate and energy mandates without further investment in gas infrastructure and dependence.

The provision of electric power to homes, businesses and industry via distributed generation (�鶹��ý�DG�鶹��ý�)2 technologies has increased at a rapid pace over the last 10 to 15 years. New York has made the development of a distributed energy future a centerpiece of the Governor�鶹��ý�s path breaking �鶹��ý�Reforming the Energy Vision�鶹��ý� initiative. The environmental consequences of dramatic increases in distributed generation, however, have not been empirically examined. Because certain forms of DG have previously only run to a very limited extent, their emissions were not regulated closely. However, evolving markets and new rate structures could create incentives that encourage an increase in the operating hours of fossil-fired DG. In this study we have created an estimated inventory of fossil-fired distributed generators in New York State, the five counties of New York City, and Westchester County. The report demonstrates a significant data gap when comparing information available regarding the stock of smaller-sized stationary engine generators in the electronic records of the State as contrasted with this report�鶹��ý�s estimated inventory of stationary generators based on several decades of engine sales information. By estimating the current and potential future emissions of small fossil-fired generators in New York State, we now have a benchmark for the quantity of the current emissions from these generators, and the potential impact on emissions from changes in the operation of these generators. This tool provides the gross emissions from the estimated installed generator inventory under various operating conditions, and the ability to examine numerous scenarios of generator use, regulation, or retirement across six criteria pollutants.

Families in America with the least means pay disproportionately more for their electricity, sometimes lacking basic access to service altogether. It�鶹��ý�s a fundamental inequity of our current energy landscape, and one that can lead to dangerous repercussions. As technology, economics, public appetite and policy steadily drive the transition to clean energy, there are frequent decisions to be made at utilities commissions and other venues about how to implement, facilitate and accelerate the needed change. This paper highlights three foundational keys for getting decisions right for residential customers with the least means: 1) DATA: Collection and distribution of comprehensive residential customer data, broken out for low- and moderate-income (LMI) and vulnerable ratepayers. 2) PROCESS: An inclusive regulatory process that formally links identification of equity impacts with consideration and adoption of measures to address them. 3) EDUCATION: Broad familiarity with the full range of programs and best practice protections to address economic inequities for low-income consumers.

The Pace Energy and Climate Center had a great 2018! We filed hundreds of pages of comments, testimony, and recommendations in utility regulatory proceedings, and spoke up and made a difference for clean energy and energy justice in rate cases and grid modernization/utility transformation cases in several states. The year ahead promises to be as exciting and important as the one just completed. Thanks to the continued support and confidence of our government and foundation funders and expert assistance clients, we will be working to secure clean energy.

This article originally appeared in The Electricity Journal, Volume 1, Issue 8, pp. 9-13 (October 2018), available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040619018302276. Reprinted with permission from The Electricity Journal and Elsevier under a Creative Commons license: Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License. Full license terms: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.

Abstract: Professor James Bonbright�鶹��ý�s Principles of Public Utility Rates, first published in 1961, was built around a model of vertically integrated electricity monopolies and approached ratemaking largely as an exercise in balancing the interests of capital attraction with those of ratepayers, all within a �鶹��ý�public interest�鶹��ý� framework. This article seeds a new conversation about changes to the venerable Bonbright principles and introduces new principles of public utility rates for an era of electric utility transformation.

Many states and utilities fail to comply with existing PURPA regulations. Is PURPA still relevant and necessary today? Calls to reform PURPA ignore the remaining barriers to market entry that qualifying facilities face and overstate the need for reform.

The Northeast Solar Energy Market Coalition was a unique coalition of state-level solar business association organized to bring a regional emphasis to solar market development in the Northeast. The focus of the Coalition�鶹��ý�s work was (1) to comprehensively map, monitor, and report solar market conditions and developments in the Northeast through the establishment and updating of a website, nesemc.com; (2) to track and provide support as requested on solar-related projects, demonstrations, and other initiatives in the region; (3) to develop and engage with Coalition members and key solar market stakeholders through an outreach and education program centered on the market development topics of highest priority to members; and (4) to develop the foundation for continuation of the Coalition as a self-sustaining regional organization. The Coalition was successful in demonstrating the value and effectiveness of organizing solar businesses around common regional issues relating to solar market development. .

Virginia, and its governors in particular, deserve credit for taking on the complex issue of beginning to regulate carbon emissions from the power sector and other parts of the state economy. They have adopted an innovative approach based on a consignment method to accomplish these objectives. The approach has the consequence of added administrative complexity as compared to simpler models used in other states. Discussed here is the consignment method, its complexities, and an offering of a few cautions.

Puerto Rico has the opportunity to rebuild its grid in a manner that makes the island more resilient. We find that PREPA can take action now to lay a strong foundation for distributed energy resources (DER) to integrate with the transmission & distribution system by making the right kind of capital equipment investments as it is being rebuilt. The future grid should be designed to accommodate far greater penetration of DER and ought to have the functionality to utilize DER as dynamic assets, supporting the grid. If PREPA fails to take actions to accommodate DER and beneficially utilize their grid support capabilities, it could face grid defection, and forego opportunities to significantly improve grid performance, productivity, and system resiliency.

Emissions leakage is a looming threat to the ongoing success of RGGI. This report, called �鶹��ý�Emissions Leakage in RGGI: An Analysis of the Current State and Recommendations for a Path Forward,�鶹��ý� discusses this looming threat and provides recommendations for policymakers on reducing leakage risk. The recommendations include expansion of energy efficiency efforts, extension of RGGI coverage to fossil-fuel power plants with a capacity of under 25MW, extension of the cap to cover emissions associated with imported electricity, and linking RGGI with additional states.

The tragic weather events that destroyed so much of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico�鶹��ý�s electricity infrastructure have sent a strong message about the brittle nature of central stationdominated electricity systems. The most important challenge facing the Commission is whether it will honor the grim lessons of recent hurricanes with actions to reduce the consequences of future severe weather events that are certain to follow.

The Report identifies states that exhibit policy and institutional leadership, discuss three topics that have recently received significant attention in the industry: deemed savings and technical reference manuals, common practice baselines, and advanced metering-based M&V enabled by greater data availability and improved data analytics.

Since the adoption of New York's Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in 2004, voluntary and compliance markets for renewable energy have been used together to meet state goals and drive in-state development. Today, the New York State Energy Plan (SEP) coordinates the Governor's energy initiative, Reforming the Energy Vision (REV), and the State's Energy Standard (CES). However, it is yet to be determined what proportion of the goals the voluntary market will represent, what requirements will be placed upon it, and whether or not generation serving voluntary buyers will be surplus to regulation. Like the rest of the Northeast, New York residents and businesses buy a large volume of voluntary green power, but New York does not supply much of it. This is an opportunity to capture private investment dollars and emissions reductions that are currently leaving the state.

The second of three policy briefs prepared with the Pace Energy and Climate Center focusing on voluntary renewable energy in the Northeast United States, this brief identifies interactions between the voluntary renewable energy market and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). It also provides recommendations for strengthening mechanisms that protect voluntary demand in RGGI states.