Governor’s Proposed Act
Art. VII Legislation, Part O |
Senate’s Proposed Act
S.8308 B, Part O
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Assembly’s Proposed Act
A.8808B, Part O
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| Definition of “Major Renewable Energy Facility” |
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Would include co-located energy storage systems, but not standalone storage.
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Would include standalone “qualified energy storage systems” with a nameplate capacity of more than 5,000 kilowatts.
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Would include co-located energy storage systems, but not standalone storage. |
| Definition of “Major Electric Transmission Facility” |
Would adopt part of the definition of “major utility transmission facility” under the current Article VII: “an electric transmission line of a design capacity of one hundred twenty-five kilovolts or more extending a distance of one mile or more, or of one hundred kilovolts or more and less than one hundred twenty-five kilovolts, extending a distance of ten miles or more, including associated equipment, but shall not include any such transmission line located wholly underground in a city with a population in excess of one hundred twenty-five thousand or a primary transmission line approved by the federal energy regulatory commission in connection with a hydro-electric facility.”
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| Uniform Standards and Conditions (USCs) |
ORES would be authorized to establish and amend USCs for the siting, design, and construction of major renewable energy facilities and major electric transmission facilities, in consultation with other state agencies, departments and authorities. USCs must be designed to avoid or minimize, to the maximum extent practicable, any potential significant adverse environmental impacts related to the siting, design, construction and operation of a major renewable energy facility or major electric transmission facility.
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ORES would be required to establish USCs applicable to major electric transmission facilities within 18 months of the effective date of the RAPID Act.
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ORES would be required to establish a USCs applicable to major electric transmission facilities within 12 months of the effective date of the RAPID Act.
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Before adopting any new USCs, ORES would be required to hold four public hearings in different regions of the state to solicit comments.
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USCs must also avoid, minimize, and mitigate agricultural impacts to active agricultural lands, related to the siting, design, construction and operation to the maximum extent practicable.
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USCs must also minimize adverse impacts on active farming operations. |
| Local Agency Account Fees |
Would retain current local agency account fees, which ORES may periodically update for inflation:
- Major renewable energy facility: $1000 for each 1000 kilowatts of capacity
- Major electric transmission facility of 125 kilovolts or more extending a distance of over 100 hundred miles: $450,000
- Major electric transmission facility of 125 kilovolts or more extending a distance of over 50 miles to 100 hundred miles: $350,000
- Major electric transmission facility requiring a new right-of-way and 125 kilovolts or more extending a distance of 10 miles to 50 miles: $100,000
- Major electric transmission facility utilizing an existing right-of-way and 125 kilovolts or more extending a distance of 10 miles to 50 miles: $50,000
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ORES may require a local agency account fee of $50,000 for qualified energy storage systems.
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| Application Completeness |
Application would not be deemed complete without proof of consultation with the municipality where the project is proposed to be located related to procedural and substantive requirements of local law.
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Application would not be deemed complete without proof of consultation with the municipality where the project is proposed the be located prior to submission of an application to ORES; provided, however, that, as contemplated under ORES’s current regulations, in the event the applicant is unable to secure a meeting with the municipality, the application must contain a detailed explanation of the applicant’s best efforts and reasonable attempts to secure such meeting, including all written communications between the applicant and the municipality.
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| Farmland Protections |
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ORES would be required to establish and/or amend rules and regulations pertaining to siting on farmland to specifically include the following requirements:
(1) Adopt the definition of “prime farmland” in Part 622.04 of the USDA Handbook and the definitions of “unique farmland,” “specific characteristics of unique farmland,” “additional farmland of statewide importance,” and “additional farmland of statewide importance” as defined in 7 CFR § 657.5;
(2) Pre-application procedures requiring applicants to submit a report delineating impacts to prime agricultural land and prime soils, unique farmland and farmland of statewide and local importance, including Mineral Soils Group (MSG) 1-4; submit a cumulative impact study as to how the use of farmland for solar siting will impact the regional food economy and regional overall farmland protection plan; and “ensure that a critical mass of farmland within the designated region is not threatened.”
(3) Preference for sites for solar development that are on brownfields, landfills, parking lots, rooftops, gravel pits and other areas where disturbance to local ecosystems is minimized. Such sites would be granted expedited approval.
(4) Application procedures for permits for major renewable energy facilities and major electric transmission facilities that include, among other things: a farmland conservation fee of 1% of the price per acre of prime soil or farmland which solar is developed on.
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ORES would be required to consider, in consultation with the Department of Agriculture and Markets, the project’s impacts on farmland preservation, local food supply chains, and statewide food security, and ensure that a critical mass of farmland within the designated region is not threatened. ORES would be required to reevaluate the efficacy of this requirement two years after the effective date and make recommendations to the Legislature.
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| Standards for Issuing Siting Permits |
As currently required for major renewable energy facilities, ORES could only issue a final siting permit if it determines that the proposed project, together with the USCs and site-specific conditions, would comply with applicable laws and regulations. ORES may elect not to apply any applicable local law or ordinance if it finds that, as applied to the proposed facility, it is unreasonably burdensome in view of the CLCPA targets, the environmental benefits, and in the case of a transmission facility, the public need for the proposed project.
ORES may exempt from the Article VIII requirements applications for major electric transmission facilities that would be constructed “substantially within existing rights-of-way.”
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ORES would be required to identify the basis of the public need for a major electric transmission facility and grant permits to such projects that demonstrate a qualified public need, so long as the adverse environmental impacts are addressed by USCs and any site-specific permit conditions applied to the facility.
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ORES could only grant major electric transmission facility siting permits to projects that: (1) demonstrate a qualified need, (2) are in the public and ratepayer interest, (3) identify and address adverse environmental impacts through the USCs and any site-specific conditions or other permissible mitigation, and (4) minimize, to the maximum extent practicable, significant adverse impacts on active farming.
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| Automatic Permit Issuance |
No automatic permit issuance after 1 year for major electric transmission facilities where the applicant lacks a right-of-way agreement for any portion of the project.
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No automatic permit issuance after 1 year for major renewable energy facilities where the applicant lacks a valid and enforceable title or easement to property on which any portion of the proposed facility is to be located.
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| ORES Fees |
ORES or DPS may assess a fee to recover the costs incurred by ORES or NYSERDA.
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Would not allow ORES or DPS to establish a fee for recovering costs until regulations regarding the operation of the endangered and threatened species mitigation bank fund, established under State Finance Law § 99-h, are finalized and the fund is operational.
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