Revision: June 20, 2023, 3:36 p.m.
June 20, 2023
2023-2217-CofC
10/05
Committee of Conference Report on SB 166-FN, relative to electric grid modernization.
Recommendation:
That the Senate recede from its position of nonconcurrence with the House amendment, and concur with the House amendment, and
That the Senate and House adopt the following new amendment to the bill as amended by the House, and pass the bill as so amended:
Amend the bill by replacing section 2 with the following:
2 New Section; Department of Energy; Grid Modernization Advisory Group. Amend RSA 12-P by inserting after section 15 the following new section:
12-P:16 Grid Modernization Advisory Group.
I. The department of energy shall establish and support a grid modernization advisory group (GMAG) consisting of the following voting members:
(a) The commissioner of the department of energy, or designee.
(b) The consumer advocate, or designee.
(c) Representatives of each of the electric distribution utilities regulated by the public utilities commission and the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative.
(d) Two representatives of distributed energy providers, including at least one with experience interconnecting distributed generation and one with experience interconnecting distributed storage, appointed by the commissioner of the department of energy.
(e) A representative of a municipal aggregation supplier, appointed by the commissioner of the department of energy.
(f) A representative of a not-for-profit organization representing clean energy, environmental, or consumer issues appointed by the commissioner of the department of energy.
(g) A representative of the Business and Industry Association, appointed by that organization.
II.(a) The grid modernization advisory group shall consider and provide recommendations to the department and the legislature on issues including, but not limited to:
(1) Grid modernization as defined in RSA 374-F:2;
(2) Transactive energy and distributed energy resources including advanced meter infrastructure (AMI);
(3) Settlement of appropriate price signals for transactive energy at the distribution system level for distributed energy resources;
(4) Appropriate customer and distributed energy resources access to temporal price signals.
(b) The GMAG shall review different cost structures that enable a reasonable portion of costs of distributed generation and storage interconnections to be shared by entities that interconnect future distributed generation or storage to the distribution grid to the extent that such subsequent interconnection is enabled by the investment or costs incurred by the prior entity or entities that interconnect. The GMAG shall provide recommendations to address this issue by September 1, 2024.
(c) The department of energy may obtain the services of a consultant for technical support concerning distribution systems and transactive energy to support department of energy staff, the consumer advocate, and the GMAG. The department of energy shall charge a special assessment for any such amounts for this consultant against any utility participating in the grid modernization advisory group and the public utilities commission shall provide for the timely recovery of such amounts for the affected utility.
III. A quorum shall be a majority of filled positions.
IV. The grid modernization advisory group shall report annually on November 1 on its meetings and any recommendations for legislation, rules, and practices, to the governor, senate president, speaker of the house of representatives, chair of the house and senate committees with jurisdiction over utilities, and the chair of the public utilities commission.
Amend the bill by deleting section 4 and renumbering the original sections 5 - 12 to read as 4 -11, respectively.
Amend the bill by replacing sections 5 through 7 with the following:
5 Limited Electrical Energy Producers Act; Pilot Programs. Amend RSA 362-A:2-b, IV to read as follows:
IV. Pilot projects shall be subject to the following limits:
(a) Projects shall be limited to [2 megawatts in size] 5 megawatts in overall size.
(b) No more than [one pilot] 2 pilots shall be permitted for any utility.
(c) Pilot projects shall end no later than 10 years from their initiation.
(d) Each pilot project shall deliver a study [3] 2 years after project initiation to report to the commission on the consumer benefits of the project.
(e) A utility shall not be eligible to file for approval of a second pilot at the public utilities commission until one year has passed since the filing for approval of the utility’s initial pilot.
6 Limited Electrical Energy Producers Act; Pilot Programs; Grid Modernization. Amend RSA 362-A:2-b, VII to read as follows:
VII. Each electric distribution utility may propose and participate in [a pilot] 2 pilots, in conjunction with a competitive electric power supplier or municipal or county aggregation, pursuant to RSA 53-E, operating as or in conjunction with a load-serving entity. The commission may approve provisions to cover incremental costs of the utility related to any such approved pilot. The public utilities commission may approve utility participation in a pilot for transactive energy and distributed energy resources, and the associated advanced metering infrastructure, as components of grid modernization if the jurisdictional conflicts under paragraph III are successfully resolved.
7 Authorization of Pilots; Credits. Amend RSA 362-A:2-b, XI(a) to read as follows:
XI.(a) The sponsors of a pilot, including the participating electric distribution utility, may petition the commission to determine, through an adjudicated proceeding, how credits for actual avoided transmission charges are to be made for exports to the distribution grid by limited producers during hours of coincident peak on which transmission costs are allocated to [reduce the retail load measured at the point of interconnection between] the distribution system [under state jurisdiction and transmission facilities under federal jurisdiction. Said costs shall be allocated to the distribution utility as transmission network customer are reduced from what they otherwise would be absent the electricity exported to the distribution grid by the limited producer. Such credit shall be made pursuant to either subparagraph (b) or (c) as proposed and determined by the commission to be for the public good]. Such credit may be based upon the extent to which such exports to the distribution grid reduce retail loads calculated at the point of interconnection between the distribution system, under state jurisdiction, and transmission facilities, under federal jurisdiction.
The signatures below attest to the authenticity of this Report on SB 166-FN, relative to electric grid modernization.
Conferees on the Part of the Senate Conferees on the Part of the House
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Sen. Avard, Dist. 12 Rep. Vose, Rock. 5
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Sen. Birdsell, Dist. 19 Rep. D. Thomas, Rock. 16
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Sen. Watters, Dist. 4 Rep. Bernardy, Rock. 36
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Rep. Cormen, Graf. 15