Among the flurry of bills approved by the Connecticut General Assembly at the end of the legislative session on Wednesday was a proposal by the Connecticut Green Bank to increase its residential solar program by 300 megawatts by 2022.
The bill, which was modified from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s original $1 billion public-private expansion plan, enables the Green Bank to provide long-term contracts from electric utility companies to owners of residential solar systems, which will make them more affordable. The Green Bank already has a similar program for commercial solar and fuel cell systems.
Other measures that passed the legislature this year included one not allowing electricity suppliers to charge rates that vary from month-to-month, a separate one allowing the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection to develop long-term contracts to shore up energy supplies in winter, and a pilot test of a shared solar program where homes can buy into nearby solar installations.
Some of the measures that didn’t pass the legislature included a bill capping the fee charged by utilities monthly to connect customers to the power grid at $10, a ban of plastic bags, and a comprehensive power grid modernization bill.
