Hearing Before
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Public Hearing before SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY COMMITTEE “The committee will be hearing testimony from the Renewable Energy Stakeholder Working Groups as follows: Mitigating Solar Development Volatility; Achieving Global Warming Response Act Goals; Reconsidering Incentives for Class I Renewables; and Decoupling Utility Regulation” LOCATION: Committee Room 6 DATE: July 10, 2014 State House Annex 9:00 a.m. Trenton, New Jersey MEMBERS OF COMMITTEE PRESENT: Senator Bob Smith, Chair Senator Linda R. Greenstein, Vice Chair Senator Christopher "Kip" Bateman Senator Samuel D. Thompson ALSO PRESENT: Jeffrey T. Climpson Kevil Duhon Carlos Cruz Office of Legislative Services Senate Majority Senate Republican Committee Aide Committee Aide Committee Aide Hearing Recorded and Transcribed by The Office of Legislative Services, Public Information Office, Hearing Unit, State House Annex, PO 068, Trenton, New Jersey JUDITH L. HOROWITZ BOB SMITH Office of Legislative Services Chairman Committee Aide (609) 847-3855 LINDA R. GREENSTEIN (609) 292-0561 fax Vice-Chairwoman MICHAEL MOLIMOCK Office of Legislative Services RICHARD J. CODEY N e w J e r s e y S t a t e L e g i s l a t u r e Committee Aide CHRISTOPHER “KIP” BATEMAN (609) 847-3855 SAMUEL D. THOMPSON SENATE ENVIRONMENT (609) 292-0561 fax AND ENERGY COMMITTEE STATE HOUSE ANNEX PO BOX 068 TRENTON NJ 08625-0068 P U B L I C H E A R I N G N O T I C E The Senate Environment and Energy Committee will hold a public hearing on Thursday, July 10, 2014 at 9:00 AM in Committee Room 6, 1st Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, New Jersey. The public may address comments and questions to Judith L. Horowitz or Michael R. Molimock, Committee Aides, or make bill status and scheduling inquiries to Shirley Link, Secretary, at (609)847- 3855, fax (609)292-0561, or e-mail: [email protected]. Written and electronic comments, questions and testimony submitted to the committee by the public, as well as recordings and transcripts, if any, of oral testimony, are government records and will be available to the public upon request. The committee will be hearing testimony from the Renewable Energy Stakeholder Working Groups as follows: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM Mitigating Solar Development Volatility 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Achieving Global Warming Response Act Goals 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM Reconsidering Incentives for Class I Renewables 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM Decoupling Utility Regulation Issued 7/02/14 For reasonable accommodation of a disability call the telephone number or fax number above, or TTY for persons with hearing loss 609-777-2744 (toll free in NJ) 800-257-7490. The provision of assistive listening devices requires 24 hours’ notice. Real time reporter or sign language interpretation requires 5 days’ notice. For changes in schedule due to snow or other emergencies, call 800-792-8630 (toll-free in NJ) or 609-292-4840. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Thomas P. Lynch Executive Vice President KDC Solar, LLC 3 Lyle K. Rawlings President and Chief Executive Officer Advance Solar Products, and President Mid-Atlantic Solar Energy Industries Association 4 Alan M. Epstein President and Chief Operating Officer KDC Solar 6 Pamela Frank Vice President Gabel Associates 7 Larry Barth Director Business Development NJR Clean Energy Ventures 16 Michael D. Flett President and Chief Executive Officer Flett Exchange, LLC 16 Katie Bolcar Rever Director State Affairs Solar Energy Industries Association 37 Fred D. DeSanti Owner and Managing Director MC² Public Affairs, LLC Representing The New Jersey Solar Energy Coalition 40 TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Page Stefanie A. Brand, Esq. Director Division of Rate Counsel State of New Jersey 55 Elvin Montero Director of Communications/Issues Management Chemistry Council of New Jersey 63 Jeff Tittel Director New Jersey Chapter Sierra Club 65 Ed Potosnak III Executive Director New Jersey League of Conservation Voters 67 Marissa Bach Manager Government and Regulatory Affairs Direct Energy 68 Reverend Craig Hirshberg Executive Director Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of New Jersey 92 Joseph Sullivan Private Citizen 94 Dave Pringle New Jersey Campaign Director Clean Ocean Action 105 Matt Polsky Private Citizen 108 Robert Marshall Executive Director New Jersey Energy Coalition 114 TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Page Scott Ross Associate Director New Jersey Petroleum Council 117 Michael Egenton Senior Vice President Government Relations New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce 117 David Brogan First Vice President Taxation and Economic Development New Jersey Business & Industry Association 117 Eric Thumma President Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Coalition, and Director Policy and Regulatory Affairs Iberdrola Renewables 155 Diana Rivera Director Market Development and Regulatory Affairs Clean Line Energy Partners 168 Evelyn Liebman Associate State Director AARP New Jersey 173 Steven Goldenberg, Esq. Representing New Jersey Large Energy Users Coalition 186 Eric DeGesero Executive Vice President Fuel Merchants Association of New Jersey 193 TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) APPENDIX (continued) Page Dennis Wilson President Renewable Power, Inc., and Vice President, New Jersey Mid-Atlantic Solar Energy Industries Association 195 APPENDIX: Mitigating Solar Development Volatility Working Group Agenda submitted by Thomas P. Lynch 1x PowerPoint presentation submitted by Mitigating Solar Development Volatility Working Group 2x Letter, addressed to Senator Robert Smith from Alan M. Epstein 34x Testimony submitted by Stefanie A. Brand, Esq. 36x Letter, addressed to Senator Bob Smith from Stefanie A. Brand, Esq. 42x Solar Market Development Volatility in New Jersey Rutgers University Center for Energy, Economic and Environmental Policy submitted by Mitigating Solar Development Volatility Working Group 46x Findings and Recommendations from the Proceeding to Investigate Approaches to Mitigate Solar Market Development Volatility submitted by The State of New Jersey Board of Public Utilities 128x TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) APPENDIX (continued) Page Global Warming Response Act Goals Working Group Preliminary Report submitted by Global Warming Response Act Goals Working Group 131x PowerPoint Presentation submitted by Global Warming Response Act Goals Working Group 149x Testimony submitted by Reverend Craig Hirshberg 182x Testimony, and fact sheet submitted by Robert Marshall 183x Testimony submitted by NJ Energy Coalition 187x Testimony submitted by Scott Ross 190x Reducing Air Emissions Through Alternative Transportation Strategies submitted by New Jersey Clean Air Council 193x Testimony submitted by David Brogan 219x PowerPoint presentation submitted by Reconsidering Incentives for Class I Renewables Working Group 221x TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) APPENDIX (continued) Page Testimony submitted by Eric Thumma 243x Testimony submitted by Diana Rivera 247x Testimony submitted by Evelyn Liebman 250x Decoupling Utility Regulation Working Group Testimony submitted by Stefanie A. Brand, Esq. 252x Summary Report submitted by Andrew Hendry and Doug O’Malley Decoupling Utility Regulation Working Group 256x Testimony submitted by Dennis Wilson 258x Testimony submitted by Doug O’Malley Director Environment New Jersey 262x Testimony submitted by Ryan Holl Decoupling Utility Regulation Working Group 269x Decoupling Case Studies: Revenue Regulation Implementation in Six States submitted by Decoupling Utility Regulation Working Group 270x TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) APPENDIX (continued) Page Creating a 21st Century Electricity System for New York State An Energy Industry Working Group Position Paper submitted by Decoupling Utility Regulation Working Group 320x Removing Disincentives to Utility Energy Efficiency Efforts submitted by The National Resources Defense Council 368x A Decade of Decoupling for U.S. Energy Utilities: Rate Impacts, Designs, and Observations Graceful Systems LLC submitted by Decoupling Utility Regulation Working Group 374x Order Requiring Proposals for Revenue Decoupling Mechanisms submitted by State of New York Public Service Commission 472x pnf: 1-204 SENATOR BOB SMITH (Chair): Good morning, good morning. Everybody take a seat. If you have any chatter, take it outside. We have an ambitious schedule. Senator Bateman is here; I understand Senator Thompson is coming, Senator Greenstein is coming, and Senator Codey may stop by. But the most important thing is we’re keeping a record today of what’s being said, so be careful of what you say. (laughter) There will be a record, and five years from now when your predictions about the end of the world don’t occur, you’re going to be on record and you’re going to be reminded of what you said, all right? Now, just as a little background to what we’re doing today. The members of this Committee and, on the Assembly side, Chairman Chivukula and his members, are constantly approached by the smartest people in New Jersey on energy issues with good ideas. And we said to ourselves, “This is not an efficient way to do energy policy. Why don’t we have all of these really smart people get together on their own and see if they can come up with consensus recommendations for legislators to consider for legislation,’ hopefully advancing the goals of making New Jersey more energy sustainable; making our planet more sustainable; hopefully providing efficient energy to our citizens, etc., etc., etc. So what I want to report to Senator Bateman is, I’ve never seen so much work from a group of stakeholders in my life. Every day-- Unfortunately, I have to take a look at the written stuff -- just the nature of my life is that I have to keep that moving -- you have probably killed about 20 sequoia trees with all of the information. (laughter) And they copy, at 1 the office, and every day there’s more stuff to read. And I kind of feel like I’ve read 10 Gone with the Winds, seeing all of the interaction between the various members of the stakeholder groups. Which I think is great. And, by the way, the other wonderful thing, Senator Bateman, about having the stakeholders meet -- you have people of divergent points of view sitting in a room together, trying to persuade people of other points of view why you’re an idiot and why my point of view is correct.