Relates to developing microgrids in preparation for extreme weather events and other risks to public security

Showing the cosponsors who are on Agora, A to Z. The official record may list more.

• Democratic2
• Republican1

This bill has cosponsors from more than one party.

Shown in neutral colors by design; Agora is non-partisan.

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Leroy Comrie says this is needed

The bill is intended to ensure continuity of services for communities during significant outages of the electric grid. New York has experi- enced increasingly severe weather in recent years. For instance, in August 2020 Tropical Storm Isaias caused extensive outages and left 503,000 customers without power for up to eight days, costing up to $350 million dollars in damages. Our changing climate can be expected to increase the frequency, intensity, and duration of extreme weather events. In addition, the state's energy infrastructure is the target of a growing threat from cyber criminals and other bad actors including hostile foreign governments. An uninterrupted supply of electricity is indispensable for communications, health and safety, access to food and essential supplies, social interactions, financial transactions, trans- portation, and public and personal security. As extreme weather events proliferate and our dependence on an uninterrupted supply of electricity grows the state's energy policies have not provided a sufficient focus on securing critical services from the risk of distribution system outages. The state's "NY Prize" microgrid program has yet to produce its intended outcomes, the incentive programs that were historically avail- able to support customer-sited projects including microgrids have been discontinued, and the commission's "value of distributed energy resources" initiative has not been extended to behind the meter projects that are designed to power vital services through outages of the distribution system. The bill will work toward the goal of ensuring that there is no such thing as a widespread blackout of key community services in advance of future weather events or cybersecurity attacks. Instead, citizens and emergency management officials will have the assurance that certain types of facilities that provide important public services will be oper- ational during outages of the electric grid in addition to supplying excess power. For instance, private telecommunications providers serve both citizens and first responders during public emergencies. Similarly, supermarkets and large retail stores serve as pre-positioned supplies of food, clothes, water, building supplies, and equipment necessary for storm preparation, recovery efforts. By establishing a renewed focus on securing important services from the risk of severe weather, while simultaneously requiring the greatest feasible degree of emission reductions, the bill will help New York address both the causes and the consequences of climate change. Federal entities have done this to ensure power can be supplied in times of excess use in addition to preparation for outages. There are a myriad of ends by which authorization of these statutory amendments will bolster New York states energy security.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.