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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 862
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 3152
Referred to Committee on ENERGY AND TECHNOLOGY
Introduced by:
(ET)
AN ACT LIMITING ELIGIBILITY FOR THE RESIDENTIAL SOLAR
INVESTMENT PROGRAM A ND PREVENTING DISTRIBUT ED ENERGY
GENERATION SOLICITAT IONS FROM SEGREGATIN G LARGE
PROJECTS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (f) of section 16-245gg of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2
2021): 3
(f) The purchase price of solar home renewable energy credits shall 4
be determined by the Connecticut Green Bank, and such purchase price 5
shall decline over time commensurate with the schedule of declining 6
performance-based incentives and expected performance -based 7
buydowns. Such purchase price shall not exceed the lesser of either (1) 8
the price of small zero-emission renewable energy credit projects for the 9
preceding year, or (2) five dollars less per renewable energy credit than 10
the alternative compliance payment pursuant to subsection (k) of 11
section 16-245. Any solar project located on a property that contains or 12
will contain any residence of a customer of an electric distribution 13
company that is determined to meet the Connecticut Green Bank criteria 14 Raised Bill No. 862
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as a residential dwelling for the residential solar investment program 15
shall not be eligible for small zero-emission renewable energy credits 16
pursuant to sections 16-244r, as amended by this act, and 16-244s or for 17
low-emission renewable energy credits pursuant to section 16-244t. 18
Whenever there is an exhaustion of funding in the residential solar 19
investment program, no solar project that meets the Connecticut Green 20
Bank criteria as a residential dwelling for the residential solar 21
investment program shall be eligible for small zero-emission renewable 22
energy credits pursuant to sections 16-244r, as amended by this act, and 23
16-244s or for low-emission renewable energy credits pursuant to 24
section 16-244t. 25
Sec. 2. Subsections (a) and (b) of section 16-244r of the general statutes 26
are repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 27
1, 2021): 28
(a) Commencing on January 1, 2012, and within the period 29
established in subsection (a) of section 16-244s, each electric distribution 30
company shall solicit and file with the Public Utilities Regulatory 31
Authority for its approval one or more long-term contracts with owners 32
or developers of Class I generation projects that emit no pollutants and 33
that are less than one thousand kilowatts in size, located on the customer 34
side of the revenue meter and serve the distribution system of the 35
electric distribution company. The authority may give a preference to 36
contracts for technologies manufactured, researched or developed in the 37
state. On or after July 1, 2021, the project size for any such solicitation 38
shall be based upon the total megawatts located on a single parcel of 39
land, or contiguous parcels under common ownership or a common 40
developer, regardless of metering infrastructure. No project may 41
subdivide parcels of land for the purpose of meeting the project size 42
requirements in this section. 43
(b) Solicitations conducted by the electric distribution company shall 44
be for the purchase of renewable energy credits produced by eligible 45
customer-sited generating projects over the duration of the long-term 46
contract. For purposes of this section, a long-term contract is a contract 47 Raised Bill No. 862
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for fifteen years. On or after July 1, 2021, in conducting any such 48
solicitation, each electric distribution company shall consult with the 49
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to impose 50
reasonable siting restrictions consistent with the policy goals outlined in 51
sections 22a-1, 22a-1a and 22a-422. 52
Sec. 3. Subparagraph (A) of subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of section 53
16-244z of the general statutes is repealed and the following is 54
substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2021): 55
(a) (1) (A) On or before September 1, 2018, the Public Utilities 56
Regulatory Authority shall initiate a proceeding to establish a 57
procurement plan for each electric distribution company pursuant to 58
this subsection and may give a preference to technologies 59
manufactured, researched or developed in the state, provided such 60
procurement plan is consistent with and contributes to the requirements 61
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with section 22a-62
200a. Each electric distribution company shall develop such 63
procurement plan in consultation with the Department of Energy and 64
Environmental Protection and shall submit such procurement plan to 65
the authority not later than sixty days after the authority initiates the 66
proceeding pursuant to this subdivision, provided the department shall 67
submit the program requirements pursuant to subparagraph (C) of this 68
subdivision on or before July 1, 2019. The authority may require such 69
electric distribution companies to conduct separate solicitations 70
pursuant to subdivision (4) of this subsection for the resources in 71
subparagraphs (A), (B) and (C) of said subdivision, including separate 72
solicitations based upon the size of such resources to allow for a 73
diversity of selected projects. On or after July 1, 2021, the project size for 74
any such solicitation shall be based upon the total megawatts located on 75
a single parcel of land, or contiguous parcels under common ownership 76
or a common developer, regardless of metering infrastructure. No 77
project may subdivide parcels of land for the purpose of meeting the 78
project size requirements in this section. On or after July 1, 2021, in 79
conducting any such solicitation, each electric distribution company 80
shall consult with the Department of Energy and Environmental 81 Raised Bill No. 862
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Protection to impose reasonable siting restrictions consistent with the 82
policy goals outlined in sections 22a-1, 22a-1a and 22a-422. 83
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2021 16-245gg(f)
Sec. 2 July 1, 2021 16-244r(a) and (b)
Sec. 3 July 1, 2021 16-244z(a)(1)(A)
Statement of Purpose:
To limit eligibility for the Residential Solar Investment Program, and to
prevent renewable energy solicitations from segregating a large project
into smaller projects.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]