As the legislative session heads toward its final week, energy and environmental measures geared to address climate change once again face a race against the clock — some of them for the second year in a row.
Disputes over details appear to be ironed out or close to it, though Republicans remain generally opposed to the highest-profile bills.
As has happened so many times before, solar legislation has been among the most contentious, but in the last few days, the remaining disagreement over caps on solar programs seems to be resolved. A major and lengthy transportation and climate bill designed to make up for a loss on that subject last year, and to ensure federal funds do not go to waste, has been fine-tuned to accommodate several concerns. And the measure to put into statute by Gov. Ned Lamont’s executive order to have a carbon-free electric grid by 2040 is exactly where it was around this time last year: waiting.
These bills, along with several others — some of which are also re-treads from last year — could go a long and sustained way toward the state’s effort to tackle climate change as well as some longstanding environmental concerns. But their consideration, let alone passage, may be more contingent on other matters, including the budget, being resolved first.
“The time is tight, and there’s a lot of things moving,” said Katie Dykes, commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. “I’m hopeful that it’ll get done.”
Solar program changes
According to multiple sources, up until late last week, the solar bill had been in negotiations between committee leadership and DEEP — a frustrating situation for the solar industry and environmental advocates watching from the sidelines who had lobbied successfully to increase the scope of the bill.
The bill was originally offered as a plan to increase existing caps on what’s known as community or shared solar; Connecticut calls it shared clean energy facilities, or SCEF. That’s a way to provide solar power to residences that can’t otherwise get it: multifamily units, rentals, homes with shaded or unusable roofs. It is particularly suited to low-income households.
But solar advocates and many legislators said that wasn’t good enough. They also wanted the caps raised or removed on commercial solar projects and the rules changed to allow projects to use all the available roof space even if it’s more than the building needs. As part of a recent reconfiguration of all solar programs in Connecticut, the commercial program is now called the non-residential solar program or NRES.
Advocates also wanted caps ended or increased for a third program for municipalities. But in the end, the bill approved by the committee doubled the caps only on SCEF and NRES and allowed for full-roof buildouts for commercial projects.
“That’s what I’m for, and I believe that that’s reasonable,” said Sen. Norman Needleman, D-Essex, co-chair of the Energy and Technology Committee who is responsible for guiding the legislation through the Senate.
That’s when more trouble started. According to multiple sources, DEEP was willing to allow full-roof buildouts on commercial projects but didn’t want the cap doubled. At the end of last week, DEEP backed off.
“We support the bill as it was passed out of committee,” Dykes said on Friday without explaining the reason for the change. Asked whether she preferred the cap doubled, Dykes said: “I’m not answering that question.”
Part of the dispute involved an additional fiscal note DEEP wanted included. The original note by the Office of Fiscal Analysis said there would be no impact from the program. DEEP got its calculations published as an addendum, showing a small impact on those not using solar.
That’s a long-standing talking point for the utilities and Republican lawmakers, often referred to as cost shift. It contends that those who don’t have solar (lower-income people) wind up subsidizing those who do (wealthier people). It’s been discounted time after time, with many studies showing the use of solar power benefits all users of the power grid.
“I think all of the fiscal analysis demonstrates that it’s not really a problem from a financial perspective,” said Charles Rothenberger, climate and energy attorney for Save the Sound. “It will go a long way toward helping Connecticut achieve its clean energy goals, to help with grid reliability and resilience.”
