Dive Brief:

• New York regulators have approved five clean energy initiatives aimed at boosting innovation and
  investment, including raising the state's cap on net metering from 3% to 6% and approving a unique energy management program for Con Edison to deploy in Brooklyn and Queens.
• Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the steps will push further growth of the local clean energy industry and will help to modernize how the utility sector operates, two steps expected to help employment in the state.
• The programs comprise part of New York's "Reforming the Energy Vision" strategy to spur clean energy development, smart grid developments, improved customer choice and value, and to protect the environment.

Dive Insight:

The REV — or "Reforming the Energy Vision" — is a regulatory package intended to reshape New York's power markets and grid infrastructure. Last week state regulators took a step forward in implementing it when they approved five new programs In one act, the Public Service Commission doubled the state net metering cap from 3% to 6%. 

“These steps will help provide New Yorkers with clean, more affordable and reliable energy while also strengthening New York’s energy grid,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said. “We are investing in a sustainable, local energy future, which will help the energy industry produce more clean power and move New York’s economy forward.”

Regulators also approved Con Edison's Brooklyn Queens Demand Management (BQDM) program, encouraging the deployment of local energy resources and microgrids. These efforts will lower overall costs for customers while offsetting the need to build a $1 billion substation to serve customers, Cuomo said.

Regulators also adopted a resolution encouraging utilities and third parties to propose demonstration projects, including those that might be similar to BQDM, and gave a boost to demand response programs to allow customer energy use to be dynamically managed with local energy resources.

Rhone Resch, President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said the initiatives are "a
huge step forward in New York’s efforts to create new jobs, reduce pollution and fight climate change. ... With 338 megawatts of solar capacity already installed across the state, this action puts New York on a clear trajectory to become one of the nation’s leading solar states."