NJ to stand out for new
DG net metering rules

New net metering rules proposed by New Jersey's Board of Public Utilities would make many more DG owners eligible to sell excess power to their utility, default service provider or marketer.
     If adopted the 100-kw limit on DG plants qualifying for net metering will rise to 2 mw allowing in many more.
     Limiting net metering to wind and solar generators would end as well, thus adding geothermal, tidal, fuel cells using renewables, sustainable biomass and other Class 1 sources.
     The downside is the need for an "upgrade" of standard hook-up procedures but those are uniform across the state.
     DG owners are to be paid at the full retail rate of power up to their annual power use and compensated at PJM's LMP rate beyond that.
     Expanding the size limit provides a quicker route to achieving the state's renewable goals and boosts the security of the power system by moving power output closer to load, the BPU explained.
     The board borrowed from FERC's rulemaking on hook-up standards, NARUC models and Massachusetts' work on DG.
     By taking the prime parts of the best new rules, the BPU asserted, New Jersey would be "one of the best states for renewable energy development."
     Interconnection rules often err on the side of protecting the grid, BPU noted, adding that overprotection creates "unnecessary barriers" to DG.
     Comments on the new rules (NJAC 14:4-9) are due Jan 30 and can be found on the BPU website (www.state.nj.us/bpu/home/secDiv.shtml).  

(Story originally published in Restructuring Today 12/22/03)