New York Public Service Commission Approves Fund Allocation to Develop Solar Power

The New York Public Service Commission announced that it has approved moving $32 million in funds from Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) allocations to support the state’s call to increase development of solar power. The commission concomitantly authorized reallocation of $2 million in existing funding for competitive solar programs from downstate to upstate projects to meet current market demand. According to the commission, the program has been successful in promoting larger PV systems that could not economically compete in a statewide bidding program. It said that a shift of a limited amount of funds from the recently designed statewide competitive program that have not been utilized in downstate load zone groups to fund projects that have been proposed in the upstate load zones, for which funding is insufficient to cover demand, will improve its ability to meet statewide solar power deployment goals. (Case 03-E-0188, N.Y.P.S.C.) For more analysis, subscribe to URN. http://www.fortnightly.com/utility-regulatory-news-0