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Committee advances clean energy equity bill with storage, community solar and oversight provisions
Summary
Senate Bill 1757 — creating an Office of Clean Energy Equity at the Board of Public Utilities, revising community solar, and setting storage and equity goals — was amended and released after coalition support and environmental-justice testimony; amendments add safety, planning and evaluation requirements.
The Senate Environment and Energy Committee moved to amend and release Senate Bill 1757, which would establish an Office of Clean Energy Equity at the Board of Public Utilities and revise the community solar program to expand access for overburdened and low-income communities.
David Pringle, representing a coalition of clean-energy groups, told the committee he and colleagues “strongly support the bill,” praising its emphasis on clean energy, justice and labor and citing mandates in the bill for 1,600 megawatts of energy storage and provisions designed to serve at least 250,000 low-income households (or 35% of low-income subscribers, whichever is greater). He also noted a minimum appropriation of $50,000,000 and provisions to make new construction solar-ready.
Melena Bimpong of New Jersey League of Conservation Voters said the bill would create a permanent Office of Clean Energy Equity to help transition overburdened communities to clean energy, and advocated amending the bill to direct 40% of transition benefits to low-income and overburdened communities to mirror federal environmental-justice commitments.
Committee staff described proposed amendments that would modify installation goals, require safety measures for energy storage facilities, limit certain administrative expenses, require the BPU to run ratepayer impact assessments before expanding programs, prioritize siting in certain areas, and direct a five-year evaluation of the office after enactment. The committee voted to amend and release the bill.
The committee’s action advances the bill to subsequent legislative steps with specified technical and programmatic changes to be memorialized in amendment language.
