The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection this week chose proposed solar projects in Bloomfield, Shelton and Thompson to participate in a delayed pilot program for shared clean energy facilities.
The projects have a total capacity rating of 5.2 megawatts and are located on a landfill, vacant industrial site and vacant parcel that won’t need tree clearing, DEEP said.
Shared clean energy is meant to benefit utility customers who don’t have an adequate roof for solar panels. Multiple utility accounts can share in the same solar development, and 20 percent of customers must be low or moderate income.
One project is located on a landfill, another project is located on a vacant industrial site, and the final project is on another vacant parcel that requires no tree clearing.
Originally slated for a Jan. 2016 launch, shared clean energy ran into several delays.
First, DEEP and utilities argued over which program-related costs could be recovered from ratepayers — a debate settled last year by the legislature.
In February, DEEP announced that it had rejected all 19 shared clean energy proposals because they were too expensive. Some also would have had negative environmental impacts, while others had too many commercial and industrial subscribers.
DEEP asked for bids a second time and received nine. The three bids it selected this week, which were redacted in the versions posted on DEEP’s website, all came in just under a price cap of 17 cents per kilowatt hour, and were in “more appropriate locations,” according to the agency.
The first round of bids averaged 20 cents.
Connecticut’s modest pilot program pales in comparison to Massachusetts, which has a pipeline of several hundred megawatts of shared solar.
