General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5505
February Session, 2020 LCO No. 2999
Referred to Committee on COMMERCE
Introduced by:
(CE)
AN ACT CONCERNING A PLAN TO LEVERAGE PRIVATE CAPITAL
TO FUND SOLAR ENERGY PROJECTS IN THE STATE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
1 Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) The Department of
2 Economic and Community Development, in consultation with the
3 Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, shall establish a
4 pilot program to leverage private capital to fund solar energy projects
5 in the state.
6 (b) Not later than September 1, 2020, the Commissioner of Economic
7 and Community Development, in consultation with the Commissioner
8 of Energy and Environmental Protection, shall identify five proposed
9 solar energy projects in the state, each having an aggregate nameplate
10 capacity rating between one hundred and two hundred fifty megawatts.
11 (c) Not later than October 1, 2020, the Commissioner of Economic and
12 Community Development, in consultation with the Commissioner of
13 Energy and Environmental Protection, shall issue a request for
14 proposals, through which an owner of a property that is not less than
15 two hundred acres and the municipality in which such property is
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16 located may jointly apply for consideration as the location for one of the
17 solar energy projects identified pursuant to subsection (b) of this section.
18 Such proposals shall include, but need not be limited to, the following:
19 (1) The cost for a private developer of a solar energy project to lease
20 or purchase the property from such property's owner;
21 (2) The total amount of any municipal fees that may be assessed on a
22 private developer of a solar energy project who develops a solar energy
23 project on the property, which shall not exceed five per cent of the cost
24 of such project or ten million dollars, whichever is less; and
25 (3) The total amount of annual property taxes that shall be assessed
26 by the municipality on the property.
27 (d) On or before January 1, 2021, the Commissioner of Economic and
28 Community Development, in consultation with the Commissioner of
29 Energy and Environmental Protection, shall develop a plan to (1)
30 expedite the permitting, grid connectivity and approval process for each
31 project identified pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, and (2) solicit
32 competitive bids from private developers of solar energy projects to
33 construct and operate any project identified pursuant to subsection (b)
34 of this section. Not later than January 1, 2021, the Commissioner of
35 Economic and Community Development, in consultation with the
36 Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection, shall submit a
37 report detailing such plan, the projects identified pursuant to subsection
38 (b) of this section and the proposals submitted pursuant to subsection
39 (c) of this section and recommendations for any requisite legislative
40 proposals for the continuation of the pilot program established pursuant
41 to subsection (a) of this section to the joint standing committees of the
42 General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to commerce,
43 energy and the environment, in accordance with the provisions of
44 section 11-4a of the general statutes.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
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 Raised Bill No. 5505
Section 1 from passage New section
Statement of Purpose:
To require the Commissioner of Economic and Community
Development to (1) identify five proposed solar energy projects in the
state, (2) solicit proposals from property owners and municipalities to
become the locations for such solar energy projects, and (3) develop a
plan to expedite the permitting, grid connectivity and approval process
for such solar energy projects.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]
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