Requires electric public utilities to submit to BPU and implement electric infrastructure improvement plans.

A1059

ASSEMBLY, No. 1059

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman WAYNE P. DEANGELO

District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)

Assemblywoman MELINDA KANE

District 6 (Burlington and Camden)

Assemblyman JAMES J. KENNEDY

District 22 (Somerset and Union)

SYNOPSIS

���� Requires electric public utilities to submit to BPU
and implement electric infrastructure improvement plans.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act
concerning distributed energy sources and supplementing
Title 48 of the Revised Statutes.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

����� 1.�
a.� As used in this section:

����� "Board"
means the Board of Public Utilities.

����� "Reactive
power" means the portion of alternating current electricity, measured in
volt-amperes reactive, that cannot do useful work due to a misalignment of the
current and voltage waveforms of the electricity.

����� b.�
The Board of Public Utilities shall require each electric public utility to
file, no later than 120 days after the effective date of this act, an electric
infrastructure improvement plan, in accordance with procedures established by
the board.� The purpose of the plans shall be to reopen many of the State�s
electric distribution circuits that have been closed to any additional
renewable energy installations, or restricted to 100 kilowatts or less of
remaining circuit capacity.� A plan shall not be required to include
infrastructure improvements to the electric transmission system.� Each plan
shall include provisions for:

����� (1)
permitting the flow of electricity, through an electrical substation, from the
distribution system to the transmission system;

����� (2)
requiring those solar inverters that are located on closed circuits to utilize
standard smart inverter technology that allows the inverter to inject and
absorb reactive power;

����� (3)
requiring those energy storage systems that are located on closed circuits to
utilize standard smart inverter technology that allows the energy storage
system to inject and absorb real and reactive power; and

����� (4)
any additional low-cost and highly actionable� non-wires alternatives
identified by an electric public utility as a potential means to reopen closed
electric distribution circuits to renewable energy installations.

����� c.�
No later than 300 days after the effective date of this act, the board shall
review and may approve, approve with modifications, or disapprove each electric
infrastructure improvement plan that the board deems to be complete.� As a
condition of approval, the board shall require each electric public utility to:

����� (1)
submit performance metrics and reports to the board, showing whether the
implementation of the electric infrastructure improvement plan has resulted in
additional distributed energy resource interconnection approvals, including an
accounting of all interconnection approvals, the types of distributed energy
resource projects that were approved, and the total capacity of distributed
energy resource projects that were approved because of the implementation of
the plan, and

���� (2)
schedule the associated work to be completed in a reasonable and prudent manner
at the earliest date possible.

���� 2.� This act shall take effect
immediately.

STATEMENT

���� This bill would require each
electric public utility in the State to submit, within 120 days after the
bill's enactment, an electric infrastructure improvement plan to the Board of
Public Utilities (BPU) for approval.� The purpose of the plan would be to
reopen many of the State�s electric distribution circuits that have been closed
to any additional renewable energy installations, or restricted to 100
kilowatts or less of remaining circuit capacity.

���� The bill would require each
plan to contain certain provisions, as enumerated in subsection b. of section 1
of the bill, as well as any additional provisions included by the utility.� The
bill would require the BPU to approve, approve with modifications, or
disapprove each plan within 300 days after the bill's enactment.� Each utility
would be required to schedule the work associated with each plan at the
earliest date possible.