The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is attempting to get a stalled “shared-solar” pilot program back on track.
A legislative committee on Tuesday accepted public testimony on a bill that would allow Eversource and Avangrid to recover the cost of administering the program, which was signed into law last year.
The two-year pilot, which is capped at six megawatts, would allow groups of utility customers to subscribe to a shared distributed generation facility. The pilot includes any type of Class I distributed generation, including solar panels, wind turbines, fuel cells and others.
Approximately half of states allow for such arrangements.
DEEP was supposed to issue an RFP at the start of this year, but was delayed when utilities pointed out that the law’s language was silent on whether utilities could recover their costs of administering the program, including costs related to billing and crediting customers who are sharing in solar or other clean energy facilities.
The Connecticut Mirror first reported on the delay.
DEEP said in testimony Tuesday that it asked the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to rule on whether the 2015 law allowed the utilities, known as electric distribution companies (EDCs), to recover costs related to the program.
But PURA declined early last month to issue that ruling, and suggested that DEEP either use a funding provision in existing law to launch the pilot program or ask lawmakers for a fix.
DEEP is proposing that the EDCs – which include Eversource and Avangrid – be allowed to recover those costs through tariff mechanisms subject to PURA approval, which would have a “small impact” on electric rates, according to the Office of Consumer Counsel.
Concerns raised
Though clean energy advocates want to see the pilot happen, several raised concerns about the latest proposal.
In particular, the bill would allow utilities to recover costs through tariff mechanisms that would last no longer than 15 years.
Many solar panels last 25 years or longer, and some in the industry consider that shorter timeline to be a potential deathblow to the program, wrote Michael Trahan, executive director of Solar Connecticut.
Shannon Laun, an attorney with Connecticut Fund for the Environment, said the proposal unnecessarily modifies the 2015 law.
“It would further delay implementation…and render it financially unviable,” Laun wrote.
Laun said a 15-year limit on power purchase agreements with utilities would make it “virtually impossible” for solar developers to obtain financing. The Connecticut Green Bank, which helps arrange such financing deals, had similar concerns.
In written testimony, Eversource representatives said the utility endorses the bill’s measures, as a “sound approaches to control costs and minimize negative rate impacts to non-participating customers.”
The program will have a small impact on all ratepayer bills, according to the Office of Consumer Counsel.
Correction: The original version of this story failed to state that PURA’s guidance to DEEP also included the possible use of a funding mechanism available under existing state law.
