Both of Connecticut’s houses have passed legislation to expand the state’s microgrid grant and loan pilot program. Specifically, S.B. 272 allows the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection to provide matching funds or low-interest loans for DG, microgrids and energy storage, in addition to DEEP’s existing grant and loan programs. Class I and Class III resources are eligible.

S.B. 272 also revises Connecticut’s long-term ZREC program. Regardless of whether contract costs have declined, the bill requires funding of $40 million in Year 5 and $48 million in Year 6 through Year 15. Funding then drops by $8 million annually from Year 16 through Year 21. (Under current law, these changes will be implemented only if PURA finds that contract costs have declined.)

Beginning in Year 6, each utility must seek one or more long-term contracts with owners of Class I facilities that:

• Emit no pollutants, are less than 1 MW and located on the customer side of the meter, and deliver electricity to the utility, provided such contracts do not exceed 50% of the funding limit in Year 6;
• Are less than 2 MW and located on the customer side of the meter, serve the distribution system of the utility, and use Class I technologies that have low emissions, provided that such contracts do not exceed 50% of the funding limit in Year 6.