Substitute Senate Bill No. 952
Public Act No. 21-53
AN ACT CONCERNING ENERGY STORAGE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) On or before January 1, 2023,
and annually thereafter, the Department of Energy and Environmental
Protection and the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority shall report, in
accordance with section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the joint
standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of
matters relating to energy regarding the quantifiable progress of energy
storage deployment against the following goals:
(1) Three hundred megawatts by December 31, 2024;
(2) Six hundred fifty megawatts by December 31, 2027; and
(3) One thousand megawatts by December 31, 2030.
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) (a) On or before January 1, 2022,
the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority shall initiate a proceeding to
develop and implement one or more programs, and associated funding
mechanisms, for electric energy storage resources connected to the
electric distribution system. The authority shall establish (1) one or more
programs for the residential class of electric customers, (2) one or more
programs for commercial and industrial classes of electric customers, Substitute Senate Bill No. 952
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and (3) a program for energy storage systems connected to the
distribution system in front of the meter and not located at a customer
premises. The authority shall solicit input from the Department of
Energy and Environmental Protection, the Connecticut Green Bank, the
electric distribution companies and the Office of Consumer Counsel in
developing such programs.
(b) On or before January 1, 2022, the authority shall report the status
of the proceeding described in subsection (a) of this section, in
accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes,
to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having
cognizance of matters relating to energy.
(c) In undertaking the proceeding described in subsection (a) of this
section, the authority shall consider one or more programs and rate
designs to incentivize the deployment of electric energy storage
technologies connected to the electric distribution system that most
effectively leverage the value of such technologies to achieve objectives
including, but not limited to, (1) providing positive net present value to
all ratepayers, or a subset of ratepayers paying for the benefits that
accrue to that subset of ratepayers; (2) providing multiple types of
benefits to the electric grid, including, but not limited to, customer, local,
or community resilience, ancillary services, leveling out peaks in
electricity use or that support the deployment of other distributed
energy resources; (3) fostering the sustained, orderly development of a
state-based electric energy storage industry; and (4) maximizing the
value from the participation of energy storage systems in capacity
markets. The authority shall include consideration of all energy storage
configurations that are connected to the distribution system, including
systems connected in front of the meter and not located at a customer
premises. The authority shall also consider programs and rate designs
to incentivize uses of electric energy storage technologies connected to
the electric distribution system that avoid or defer investment in Substitute Senate Bill No. 952
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traditional electric distribution system capacity upgrades.
(d) The authority may select the Connecticut Green Bank, the
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the electric
distribution companies, a third party it deems appropriate or any
combination thereof, to implement one or more programs for electric
energy storage resources connected to the electric distribution system,
as directed by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.
Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) (a) The Commissioner of Energy
and Environmental Protection, in consultation with the procurement
manager identified in subsection (l) of section 16-2 of the general
statutes and the Office of Consumer Counsel, may issue requests for
proposals for energy storage projects connected at the transmission or
distribution level, including stand-alone energy storage projects and
energy storage projects paired with Class I renewable energy sources or
hydropower facilities that have a nameplate capacity rating of not more
than one hundred megawatts, that would achieve the goals in section 1
of this act in combination with programs established by the Public
Utilities Regulatory Authority. If the Commissioner of Energy and
Environmental Protection determines that procuring energy storage is
cost effective, the commissioner shall proceed with the selection of
proposals. In making this determination, the commissioner shall
publish and make available for public comment a cost-effectiveness test
that considers each applicable benefit provided by energy storage.
(b) In making any selection of such proposals, the commissioner shall
consider factors, including, but not limited to, (1) whether the proposal
is in the best interest of ratepayers, including, but not limited to, the
delivered price of such sources, (2) whether the proposal promotes
electric distribution system reliability, including during winter peak
demand, (3) any positive impacts on the state's economic development,
(4) whether the proposal is consistent with the requirements to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with section 22a-200a of the Substitute Senate Bill No. 952
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general statutes, and (5) whether the proposal is consistent with the
policy goals outlined in the Comprehensive Energy Strategy adopted
pursuant to section 16a-3d of the general statutes and the Integrated
Resources Plan adopted pursuant to section 16a-3a of the general
statutes. In considering whether a proposal has any positive impacts on
the state's economic development, the Commissioner of Energy and
Environmental Protection shall consult with the Commissioner of
Economic and Community Development.
(c) Any agreement entered into pursuant to this section shall be
subject to review and approval by the Public Utilities Regulatory
Authority, which review shall be completed not later than one hundred
twenty days after the date on which such agreement is filed with the
authority. The authority shall approve any such agreement if it is cost
effective and in the best interest of electric ratepayers. The net costs of
any such agreement, including costs incurred by the electric distribution
companies under the agreement and reasonable costs incurred by the
electric distribution companies in connection with the agreement, shall
be recovered through a fully reconciling component of electric rates for
all customers of electric distribution companies. Any net revenues from
the sale of products purchased in accordance with long-term contracts
entered into pursuant to this section shall be credited to customers
through the same fully reconciling rate component for all customers of
the contracting electric distribution company.