PSEG Long Island - Solar Initiative Feed-in Tariff

Summary

NOTE NOTE: Program no longer offered. 

Note: The application period for the program ended on January 31^st, 2014 with a final bid price of $0.1688/kWh awarded to 76 separate projects of total 100 MW. The program is no longer accepting any new applications; however, depending on the interconnection study results, some projects may be eliminated and replaced by next in line in queue. There are no current plans to continue this program to its third phase. 

The PSEG Long Island Feed-in Tariff II (FIT II) program provides fixed payments for electricity produced by approved photovoltaic systems over a fixed period of time. The program operates under a sell-all arrangement, where the full amount of energy production from the facility is sold to the utility (i.e., no on-site use). Systems from 100 kilowatts (kW) to 2 megawatts (MW) that were not connected to the grid prior to the program's conditional acceptance period (anticipated to be on or around February 28, 2014) are eligible to participate. The program offers a 20-year contract at a rate determined through the Clearing Price Auction. A total of up to 100 MW of new solar generation will be supported by the FIT II program. The system size is determined as the lesser of the sum of the AC rated output of all inverters, or the PTC rating of the system multiplied by the inverter efficiency. Projects must be connected to the LIPA grid at the distribution level, defined as 13.2 kilovolts (kV) or below.

Unlike the first FIT program that was offered in July 2012, applications for FIT II are not being accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Additionally, LIPA has not selected a fixed price that qualifying projects will receive. Instead, the price will be determined based on a Clearing Price Auction. All applications received during the application period beginning October 7, 2013 through January 31, 2014 that meet an initial technical and administrative screening process will be eligible for consideration. In submitting an application, all applicants must submit a fixed price bid for the 20-year term. After an initial technical and administrative review for completeness, qualified applications will be ranked in order of their bid price. The top 10% of bid prices will be excluded from consideration in setting the Clearing Price. The remaining 90% of applications will be conditionally accepted from lowest to highest until the sooner of either 100 MW is conditionally accepted or all bids are exhausted. The bid price of the last project accepted will determine the Clearing Price and all projects will then be eligible for that price. To encourage solar investment in areas of the South Fork that will provide the greatest benefits to the LIPA electric system, a solar price premium of approximately 7 cents per kilowatt-hour will be available for projects built in the designated areas located east of LIPA’s Canal Substation in Southampton. However, that premium will only be available if LIPA receives acceptable projects totaling 40 MW or more in the targeted area. 

Facilities that enroll in LIPA's solar rebate programs are not eligible for the FIT. Facilities must retain qualifying facility (QF) status in order to continue to be eligible for the program.