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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 6929
January Session, 2025
LCO No. 4652
Referred to Committee on ENERGY AND TECHNOLOGY
Introduced by:
(ET)
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A THERMAL ENERGY NETWORK GRANT
AND LOAN PROGRAM.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2025) (a) As used in this section: 1
(1) "Electric distribution company" and "participating municipal 2
electric utility" have the same meanings as provided in section 16-1 of 3
the general statutes; 4
(2) "Regional council of governments" means a regional council of 5
governments organized under the provisions of sections 4-124i to 4-6
124p, inclusive, of the general statutes; 7
(3) "Thermal energy" means heating, or heating and cooling, derived 8
from (A) fuel sources that do not emit greenhouse gases when 9
combusted, or (B) geothermal energy; and 10
(4) "Thermal energy network" means all real estate, fixtures and 11
personal property operated, owned and used or to be used for, or in 12
connection with or to facilitate, a utility-scale distribution infrastructure 13
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project that supplies thermal energy in the form of piped 14
noncombustible fluids used for transferring heat into and out of 15
buildings for any type of heating and cooling process, including, but not 16
limited to, comfort heating and cooling, domestic hot water and 17
refrigeration. 18
(b) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall, 19
within available appropriations, establish a thermal energy network 20
grant and loan program to support the development of thermal energy 21
network projects. The commissioner shall develop and issue a request 22
for proposals from eligible recipients that shall include, but need not be 23
limited to, any local or regional governmental entity, municipal 24
corporation, regional council of governments, public authority, state 25
and federally recognized tribe, electric distribution company, 26
participating municipal electric utility, energy improvement district and 27
nonprofit, academic and private entity seeking to develop a thermal 28
energy network. Any such eligible recipient may collaborate with any 29
other such eligible recipient in submitting such proposal. 30
(c) The commissioner may award grants or loans under the thermal 31
energy network grant and loan program to any number of eligible 32
recipients. Such grants and loans may provide: (1) Assistance with 33
community planning that includes, but is not limited to, thermal energy 34
network project feasibility, including benefit-cost analyses, (2) 35
assistance to recipients for the cost of design, engineering services and 36
infrastructure for any such thermal energy network project, and (3) 37
nonfederal cost share for grant or loan applications for projects or 38
programs that include thermal energy networks. The commissioner 39
may establish any financing mechanism to provide or leverage 40
additional funding to support the development of thermal energy 41
network projects. 42
(d) Not later than January first, annually, for a period of three years 43
after receiving a grant or loan under the thermal energy network grant 44
and loan program, the recipient of such grant or loan shall submit a 45
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report to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, the Office of 46
Consumer Counsel and the Commissioner of Energy and 47
Environmental Protection and, in accordance with the provisions of 48
section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the joint standing committee of 49
the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to energy 50
and technology. Such report shall include information concerning the 51
status of such recipient's thermal energy network project. 52
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2025 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To require the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection
to establish a thermal energy network grant and loan program to
provide funding for the development of thermal energy networks.
[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.]