On or after October 1, 2013, the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection, in consultation with the procurement manager identified in subsection (l) of section 16-2, the Office of Consumer Counsel and the Attorney General, may solicit proposals, in one solicitation or multiple solicitations, from providers of the following resources or any combination of the following resources: Run-of-the-river hydropower, landfill methane gas, biomass, fuel cell, offshore wind or anaerobic digestion, provided such source meets the definition of a Class I renewable energy source pursuant to section 16-1, or energy storage systems. In making any selection of such proposals, the commissioner shall consider factors, including, but not limited to (1) whether the proposal is in the interest of ratepayers, including, but not limited to, the delivered price of such sources, (2) the emissions profile of a relevant facility, (3) any investments made by a relevant facility to improve the emissions profile of such facility, (4) the length of time a relevant facility has received renewable energy credits, (5) any positive impacts on the state's economic development, (6) whether the proposal is consistent with requirements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with section 22a-200a, including, but not limited to, the development of combined heat and power systems, (7) whether the proposal is consistent with the policy goals outlined in the Comprehensive Energy Strategy adopted pursuant to section 16a-3d, (8) whether the proposal promotes electric distribution system reliability and other electric distribution system benefits, including, but not limited to, microgrids, (9) whether the proposal promotes the policy goals outlined in the state-wide solid waste management plan developed pursuant to section 22a-241a, and (10) the positive reuse of sites with limited development opportunities, including, but not limited to, brownfields or landfills, as identified by the commissioner in any solicitation issued pursuant to this section. The commissioner may select proposals from such resources to meet up to six per cent of the load distributed by the state's electric distribution companies, provided the commissioner shall not select proposals for more than three per cent of the load distributed by the state's electric distribution companies from offshore wind resources. The commissioner may direct the electric distribution companies to enter into power purchase agreements for energy, capacity and environmental attributes, or any combination thereof, for periods of not more than twenty years on behalf of all customers of the state's electric distribution companies. Certificates issued by the New England Power Pool Generation Information System for any Class I renewable energy sources procured under this section may be: (A) Sold in the New England Power Pool Generation Information System renewable energy credit market to be used by any electric supplier or electric distribution company to meet the requirements of section 16-245a, provided the revenues from such sale are credited to all customers of the contracting electric distribution company; or (B) retained by the electric distribution company to meet the requirements of section 16-245a. In considering whether to sell or retain such certificates, the company shall select the option that is in the best interest of such company's ratepayers. Any such agreement shall be subject to review and approval by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, which review shall be completed not later than sixty days after the date on which such agreement is filed with the authority. 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. All reasonable costs incurred by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection associated with the commissioner's solicitation and review of proposals pursuant to this section shall be recoverable through the nonbypassable federally mandated congestion charges, as defined in section 16-1.
(P.A. 13-303, S. 8; P.A. 14-94, S. 34; P.A. 17-144, S. 10; P.A. 18-50, S. 31.)
History: P.A. 13-303 effective June 5, 2013; P.A. 14-94 reworded provision re net costs recovered by electric distribution companies pursuant to power purchase agreements, effective June 6, 2014; P.A. 17-144 added “the following resources or any combination of the following resources:”, added references to providers of fuel cell, offshore wind or anaerobic digestion and energy storage systems re solicitation of proposals, added provision re development of combined heat and power systems in Subdiv. (6), added Subdiv. (8) re promotion of electric distribution system reliability and other benefits, added Subdiv. (9) re promotion of policy goals in state-wide solid waste management plan, added Subdiv. (10) re positive reuse of sites with limited development opportunities, added provision re commissioner not to select proposals for more than 3 per cent of load distributed by state's electric distribution companies from offshore wind resources, replaced “ten years” with “twenty years” re power purchase agreements, replaced “shall be sold” with “may be (A) Sold” re Class I renewable energy sources procured under section, added provisions re revenues from sale credited to customers in Subpara. (A), added Subpara. (B) re requirements of Sec. 16-245a, added provision re company to select option in best interest of ratepayers, added provision re reasonable costs recoverable, and made technical changes, effective June 27, 2017; P.A. 18-50 replaced provision re commissioner may select proposals from resources to meet up to 4 per cent of load distributed by state's electric distribution companies with provision re commissioner may select proposals to meet up to 6 per cent of load distributed, effective May 24, 2018.