Download Interconnecting Community Solar

EnergyDemocracyNY.org
CoShareNYS – A Member-based Network of Community Organizations and Local Energy Practitioners Moving Community
Shared Solar Forward in New York State
Adam Flint, Coordinator
Community Owned Shared Renewables
(CoShare)
NY Energy Democracy Alliance
How you can get involved
• Email [email protected] to join the COSHARE listserv
• Join our twice monthly conference calls every other Wednesday, 1-2pm.
Next Call May 11th
• Join a task force: Interconnection, Finance, more to come. . .
• Join and contribute to the CoShareNYS.org toolbox
• Help resource our work: expertise, resources, funding
“Interconnecting Community Solar”
Panelists:
• Melissa Kemp; New York Solar Energy Industries Association (NYSEIA)
[email protected]
• Bill Oberkehr; PV Trainers Network
[email protected]
Sponsored by Co-Share:
• Adam Flint; Coordinator
• Louise Gava; Coordinator of Interconnection Working Group
Interconnecting Community Solar Projects
in New York
The Latest Developments, Key Information for Success, and Pitfalls to Avoid
Melissa Kemp, NYSEIA Policy Co-Chair and Director Government & Utility
Affairs at Renovus Solar
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
About NYSEIA
NYSEIA is the only statewide membership and trade
association dedicated solely to advancing solar energy use in
New York state. The solar industry employs over 7,000
individuals in a wide range of living wage jobs that benefit
communities and help reduce environmental impacts from
fossil fuels. Led by a diverse Board of Directors, NYSEIA
strives to achieve responsible and sustainable solar energy
adoption throughout the state.
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Context for Webinar
• New York is working to dramatically ramp up the
deployment of solar and other renewable distributed
generation to reduce carbon emissions and avoid the worst
of climate change, improve the efficiency of the electrical
system, reduce costs, improve health and security, and
provide other benefits to residents across the state.
Community solar is one important aspect of this transition.
• Common roles for organizations and people are:
• Customer procuring clean electricity
• Landowner leasing land for project(s)
• Entity or organization promoting and driving interest in a
community to participate in a project/make this transition
• Entity, organization, or individual promoting or developing
updated important local policies such as zoning and
property tax
• Entity or organization sponsoring or developing projects
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Interconnection 101- Distribution Grid
• The New York electric distribution grid typically
includes three-phase and single phase aboveground or
underground lines that serve loads at businesses,
farms, homes etc. Some utilities include subtransmission lines as distribution lines as well, but highvoltage transmission lines are not included.
• Community solar projects - enabled by two NY Public
Service Commission (PSC) orders in July and October
2015 (Case #15-E-0082) - need to connect to the
distribution grid in order to use the new net-metering
policy.
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Interconnection 101 – Community Project Overview
• Community projects can serve customers:
• Located in the same NY Independent System
Operator (ISO) zone, and
• Located in the same electric utility territory
• Projects can be sized up to 2MWac in size per
interconnection point and tax parcel, and can be located
on leased 3rd party land, customer owned land, or
developer owned land
• Projects can typically most easily and affordably be
interconnected to 3-phase distribution lines but smaller
projects can also use single-phase lines
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Interconnection 101 – Community Project Overview
• General Starting Place for Project Size Based on
Distribution Line Phase and Voltage:
• If 35kV and 3 phase = 4-6 MW
• If 15kV and 3 phase = 2 MW
• If 5kV and 3 phase = 0.75 MW
• If 35kV and 2/1 phase = 0.25 MW
• If 15kV and 2/1 phase = 0.20 MW
• If 5kV and 2/1 phase = 0.15 MW
The above sizes depend significantly on the peak load on
circuit and other technical details.
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Context
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Context
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Interconnection 101 – Location and Timing
• Location is key, and determining interconnection feasibility is
a critical early step for any project
• Typically part of the earliest site development process that
runs before or parallel to early customer development for
leased or developer-owned land, and can be after certain
initial milestones if customer-owned land.
• Recommend very preliminary location tools to use:
• Online simple mapping of utility circuit locations, phase,
and voltage went live on and were shared between 8/319/1/15 in case docket. NYSEG mapping is here and
National Grid mapping is here for example.
• Visual inspection
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Current State of Interconnection in NY
• The NY Interconnection Queue is the list of projects in order of
submittal that have applied to connect to the distribution grid
across the state.
• Current NY interconnection queue is growing (likely in large part
due to community solar interest) and is around 2,900 MW of solar
and other non-wind DG as of 4/1/16 according to utility filings in
PSC Matter 13-00205 SIR Inventory.
• The current interconnection queue is larger than NY has
experienced in the past and would be in excess of net-metering
caps if they currently applied, but this number is likely not
adequately representative of real proposed projects and this
should be addressed and not used to drive policy.
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Current State of Interconnection in NY
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Rules and Process
• The Standard Interconnection Requirements (SIR) are New
York’s state-wide regulations intended to create uniform
interconnection rules for connecting solar PV and other distributed
generation (DG) systems to the electric distribution grid. The SIR
provides application procedures, technical requirements, review
processes, timelines, cost guidelines etc.
• As we will detail below, significant updates to the SIR were worked
on in 2015, and these were just announced by the PSC on
March 17, 2016 and this new SIR go into effect formally this
Friday April 29, 2016. You can access it here.
• Initial goal is for the process and rules to work, be accurate,
fair, and timely, so that we get projects successfully
connected. Distribution system limitations will then be medium
term limit for solar development in municipalities
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Challenges and Common Interconnection Issues to Date
• No way to get information on circuits upfront without submitting
an interconnection application and getting in the queue
• Delays in the reports and studies in the process – In part driven
by waves of application in response to regulatory changes
• Different technical standards being used by utilities across the
state to evaluate project feasibility and decide on necessary
upgrades
• Lack of transparency about and significant variation in upgrade
costs across territories
• Limited formal processes and rules for interconnection queue
management resulting in many “projects” in queue for initial
information or speculation, and delays and complexity as a result
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Recent SIR Update
Announced March 17, 2016 (Case 15-E-0557) and includes
these positive changes:
• Introduction of pre-application report – Key data about circuit and
substation of interest without submission of full interconnection
application and entering interconnection queue
• Inclusion of a set of standard screens state-wide in preliminary
review with explicit language that if passed, the project goes
directly to execution of interconnection contract with no upgrades
and no study
• If screens are failed, option for expedited supplemental review
• Elimination of blanket upgrade requirements if pass initial or
supplemental review
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Recent SIR Update (Cont)
• If upgrades required after supplemental process or study,
payment to execute contract reduced from 100% of upgrade
costs to 25%
• New requirements for greater detail on any upgrades proposed,
itemized costs
• Limitation of overall cost contingency to 25%
• Projects up to 5MW are now allowed to be processed through
the SIR, but the net-metering limit for projects is still 2MW, so it is
unlikely that this 5MW upper limit will be used initially
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
New SIR Process
1) Pre-application Report Request (Appendix D) – Request by
applicant for 13 key pieces of information on the distribution
circuit interested in connecting to. No customer name or site
control required, and does not place you in the queue. –Fee is
$750, Utility has 10 business days to complete, and Applicant
has 15 business days to use fee credit
2) Application Submission and Preliminary Review – If the
above is successful, submitting a formal interconnection
application requires completed forms and initial 3 line electrical
drawing (Appendix F). Free if completed pre-application report
recently, otherwise fee. – Fee is zero or $750, Utility has 15
business days to complete, and Applicant has 30 business
days to decide on next steps after results
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
New SIR Process (Cont)
4) Executed Contract or Further Study - If pass standard screens in
preliminary review (Appendix G), you should go directly to contract
with no study or upgrades. If fail, option for Supplemental Review
Screens or can go straight to full CESIR study. Fee is $2,500 for
Supplemental and $5,000-$20,000 for CESIR, Utility has 20 or 60
business days respectively to complete, and Applicant has 30 or 60
business days respectively to decide on next steps after results
5) Deposit, and Execution of Contract: If have not already moved to
contract, after completion of the CESIR study, applicant has the
allowed business days to decide to move forward and pay 25% of
upgrade costs to execute interconnection contract, which sets your
place in the queue and locks in the project’s property tax status. The
remaining 75% of costs are then due in an additional 120 days and
then utility upgrades can start.
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
New SIR Process (Cont)
Example Total Times for the New Process Excluding
Construction are:
• 40-60 business days for simpler projects (up to 1MW at
excellent sites)
• 130 business days for more complex projects
New Process vs Old Process: Please note that currently all
projects in the queue before 4/29/16 are planned by DPS to
be processed completely under the old process. As this is
significantly disadvantageous for some projects and could
slow the benefits of the new SIR, we are requesting that
applicants be able to request that a project be reprocessed
under the new SIR without having to submit a new
application.
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Unique SIR Requirements for Community Solar
• Some utilities have unique Community Distributed Generation
Agreement or Host Certification forms, and some require special
version of standard paperwork (Appendices A, B, and C)
• Details on each utilities requirement can be found in their
“Community Distributed Generation Operating or Procedure
Manuals” published 11/9/15 in the docket for Case #15-E-0082
• All utilities have project sponsor creditworthiness requirements
that are still being confirmed and clarified
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Work Going Forward
• Along with the SIR update, there has been the recent creation of
a State-level NY Interconnection Technical Working Group
(ITWG) and State-Level Interconnection Ombudspersons to
address the significant remaining improvements needed
• These include:
• Consistent and accurate implementation of the new SIR
• Creation of a robust and complete set of interconnection
queue management processes, including a requirement for
site control before an application can be submitted, exact
timelines at every part of the process which if not met by the
developer result in automatic removal from the queue, and a
clear process by which projects can move around each other
in the queue if there are buffers around the timelines.
• Creation of best practice standards on technical issues
including Substation Level Reverse Power Flow, Remote
Monitoring Requirements, Control and Protection Issues
including DTT Requirements and Other Anti-Islanding
Protection Schemes, and Voltage Flicker and Regulation
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Work Going Forward (cont)
• Addition of enforcement mechanisms and incentives for
utilities to meet interconnection process timelines and cost
estimates and to innovate to help further reduce costs
• Elimination of Customer name requirement for
interconnection applications and/or ability to update customer
name (Except for community projects that already have this
as a standard)
• Addition of process for updating preliminary reviews and
CESIRs when minor changes to the system configuration
occur
• Hosting capacity maps
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Best Practices to Avoid Common Problems
• Attention to site selection and early due diligence on interconnection
feasibility (in addition to the land itself) to avoid non-starter situations
• Share common non-starter situations with landowners, community, and
municipal leaders – for example trying to put a 2MWac project on a
single-phase or low voltage three-phase line
• For the above, use the existing mapping tools and visual inspection, and
then use the preapplication report
• Always correctly and fully complete the preapplication report request
form and interconnection application itself
• Use in-house resources or cultivate partnerships to understand and
process the technical interconnection reports and results
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Best Practices to Avoid Common Problems
• Those resources can use and refer to NYSEIA’s “Summary of and
Rationale for Processes and Screening Methodologies Included in the
Recently Adopted New York State Standardized Interconnection
Requirements (SIR)”
• Meet developer/sponsor timelines in new SIR to maintain place in
queue
• Remove dead projects formally from queue until the new more robust
and automated queue management processes are fully in place
• Establish good working relationships with the utilities as much as
possible we all share the same goals to interconnect solar and
maintain safety and reliability of the system, but also don’t hesitate to
reach out to NYSEIA or DPS for assistance if you are having an issue
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
If Interested in Further Details
• Looking for more information on the rationale for the new statewide screens and their implementation, how to make the best
use of the new pre-application and preliminary technical review
reports, or discussing the details of proposed management of the
current queue?
• Additional Upcoming NYSEIA Webinar: “The New
Interconnection Rules in NY for Developers: How to
Understand and Successfully Navigate the New Process and
Changes on the Horizon”
Next Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - 10:00am EDT
Register by clicking here
Community Solar Interconnection Webinar April 27, 2016
Questions?
Next Webinar
Wednesday, May 11th 10am
Topic: ‘Solar Land Leasing and Municipal Best Practices’
Cosponsored by NDA and NYSEIA
[email protected]