The New York Public Service Commission on Dec. 14 approved phase III of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s plan to implement the Clean Energy Standard or CES, adopted in August 2016, to achieve the state’s goal of obtaining half its electricity from renewable resources by 2030. The program includes a renewable energy standard, zero-emissions credit requirement, as well as the offshore wind standard adopted in July 2018. The plan seeks to incorporate changes to reflect developments including requirements under a parallel docket that developed value-based compensation for distributed energy resources.

The Value of Distributed Energy Resources or VDER proceeding provided direction on the eligibility of distributed resources to bid into tier 1 solicitations under the renewable energy standard. The phase III plan modifies the tier 1 certification process, extends the commercial operation date for procurements, and establishes procedures to sell renewable energy certificates or RECs from 2019 onwards. Activities for solicitation of large-scale renewables conducted each year will also include offshore wind procurements. The plan calls for additional requirements in the annual performance report and extends the deadline to file the progress report to December 31st from October 30th of each year to provide adequate time to complete transactions necessary to finalize the ZEC program compliance year.

The phase I implementation plan, approved in February 2017, provided details and processes for eligibility, certification and procurement of RECs, while the phase II plan filed in November 2017 provided clarifications and refinements to the implementation process.

The commission ordered that a final plan be submitted within 30 days of the order.