Personal Impact*
Waste Diversion Electricity Zero-Carbon Energy Transportation
Solar Photovoltaics
The number of solar installations throughout Connecticut increased in 2022.
Thousands of Connecticut homes and businesses now use the sun to generate much of their own electricity. Through December 2022, total installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity from over 73,500 installations exceeded 912 megawatts (MW) in the state.77 On January 1, 2022, the new Residential Renewable Energy Solutions (RRES) program replaced the previous net metering and Residential Solar Investment Program, administered by the Green Bank, for residential renewable energy projects. In 2022, 5,998 solar PV installations with a total capacity of 47,133 kilowatts (kW) were deployed throughout Connecticut as part of the RRES Program.78 The RRES program offers residential solar installations the opportunity to sell the energy produced and the renewable energy certificates (RECs) at a fixed 20-year price by selecting one of two incentive rate structures (tariffs).
Public Act 22-14 expanded the Non-Residential Energy Solutions program (NRES) and Shared Clean Energy Facility (SCEF) program. The new law also increased the maximum size of individual projects under the programs; expanded the programs capacity; allows commercial and industrial customers in the NRES program to use their entire rooftops to site projects and increases the proportion of SCEF projects that must benefit low-income customers.
Utility Scale and Behind-The-Meter Solar PV
The Independent System Operator for New England (ISO-NE) projected that a total of approximately 1,880 MW of solar PV capacity could be installed in Connecticut by 2031.79 The environmental and social impact of solar PV installations in Connecticut is mixed. The primary advantage of solar PV technology is that it produces electricity with zero emissions – no air pollution, wastewater, or noise. The 912+ MW of installed PV capacity in the state in 2022 is calculated to produce more than 1.16 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity, which is calculated to potentially displace over 310,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions.80
An issue with land-based solar PV installations, primarily utility scale installations, is the impact such development has on farmland, forests, shrublands, and the species that inhabit these ecosystems. This is significant since the preservation of forests, open space, and farmland are state policy priorities and important as a mitigation strategy to address climate change.
Regulation of Certain Solar PV Systems
As a result of citizens’ concerns regarding the proliferation of land-based solar PV systems in Connecticut, the Council issued a special report in 2017, Energy Sprawl in Connecticut, that identified deficiencies in state policy regarding the selection and siting of land-based PV installations and recommendations to ensure prime farmland and core forest habitats were protected. In response to citizen concerns, Public Act 17-218 was enacted, which requires certain solar projects to acquire written confirmation that the subject proposal would not “materially affect” the status of such land as prime farmland or core forest. Since Public Act 17-218 was enacted, the capacity of individual commercial PV projects, submitted to the Connecticut Siting Council (CSC) for regulatory approval through the Petition for Declaratory Ruling process, has decreased.
Certain provisions of Public Act 17-218, which require written determination regarding the “material affect” to core forest and prime farmland, only apply to certain commercial solar PV proposals, such as projects with a proposed capacity greater than two MW that seek approval by Petition for Declaratory Ruling. In 2022, there were 13 proposals for solar projects submitted to the CSC; ten of those projects were exempt from the provisions of Public Act 17-218. All of the exempt projects were less than two MWs.81
Energy Storage
To more efficiently manage electricity generated by intermittent renewable generation and to improve energy management and reliability, Public Act 21-53 was enacted that requires the state to develop and implement one or more programs, and associated funding mechanisms, for electric energy storage resources connected to the electric distribution system. In 2022, Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) launched a statewide electricity storage program (Energy Storage Solutions), for all Eversource Energy (Eversource) and United Illuminating (UI) residential, commercial, and industrial customers. The nine-year program, administered by the Connecticut Green Bank along with Eversource and UI, will continue through at least December 31, 2030. In 2022, approximately 201 MWh of energy storage resources were submitted, approved or completed throughout Connecticut, with approximately 99 percent of the capacity serving the commercial and industrial sector.82
Goal: Public Act 21-53 established three goals for the deployment of energy storage systems in Connecticut: 1) 300 MW by December 31, 2024; 2) 650 MW by December 31, 2027; and 3) 1,000 MW by December 31, 2030.
Technical Note: *Personal impact indicators illustrate trends in behavior or practices that can be expected to influence the condition of tomorrow’s air, water, land and wildlife.
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77 ISO-New England, December 2022 Distributed Generation Survey Results, Distributed Generation Forecast
Working Group, slide 5, February 17, 2023; www.iso-ne.com/static-assets/documents/2023/02/2_survey_results.pdf.
78 Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) Docket 22-08-02, Order No. 12 Compliance Filings for Eversource, January 13, 2023 and United Illuminating, January 17, 2023; www.dpuc.state.ct.us/dockcurr.nsf/(Web+Main+View/All+Dockets)?OpenView&StartKey=22-08-02.
79 ISO-New England, Final 2022 PV Forecast, slide 32, April 28, 2022; www.iso-ne.com/static-assets/documents/2022/04/final_2022_pv_forecast.pdf.
80 ISO-New England, 2020 ISO New England Electric Generator Air Emissions Report, April 2022; TABLE 5.1; www.iso-ne.com/static-assets/documents/2022/05/2020_air_emissions_report.pdf.
81 Connecticut Siting Council, Decisions and Pending Matters; portal.ct.gov/CSC.
82 Energy Storage Solutions Performance Report, slide 8 of 12, accessed 1-4-2023; energystoragect.com/ess-performance-report/.