DEEP picks Shelton for shared-solar project

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has picked three projects, including one in Shelton, to be part of pilot program that will make solar energy available to those who don’t have the ability to have photovoltaic panels on their homes or property.

The so-called “shared solar” projects must now be approved by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority. Shared solar involves setting up photovoltaic solar panels at a remote location and distribute the electricity generated by them to those who sign up for the service.

DEEP Commissioner Rob Klee the projects will “increase access to clean energy resources for those customers that cannot participate in rooftop solar programs and focuses on outreach to low- to moderate-income customers.”

“The proposal prices for power from these facilities came in under the price cap we established as part of this initiative — and they will be sited on land with limited development opportunities, such as a landfill,” Klee said in a statement.

The requirements for the pilot program included a requirement that the electricity generated from the projects be offered at a rate of no more than 17 cents per kilowatt hour. Another requirement was that at least 20 percent of the electricity produced by project must to go to low- to moderate-income customers.

Only one of the three projects selected by DEEP is located in southern Connecticut.

US Solar Corp. expects to generate 1.6 megawatts of power from a photovoltaic array that will be located at Shelton Transfer Station. The project is expected to operational by September 2019, according to documents provided by DEEP.

The other two projects that were selected for the pilot program are in Thompson and Bloomfield.

The Connecticut General Assembly authorized the creation of the shared solar pilot program during the 2015 legislative session. But the process got bogged down in concerns over the original language of the public act that created the pilot program and that required a legislative fix during the 2016 session.

The effort to launch the pilot program received another setback last year.

DEEP issued a request for proposals last summer and received 19 responses, which agency officials subsequently rejected for a variety reasons. DEEP issued a second request for proposals in March, which yielded nine proposals, including the three that were ultimately selected.

Joel Gordes, a West Hartford-based energy consultant, said the handling of the shared solar process has not endeared the state to the solar power industry.

“Connecticut has a bad reputation among the (solar) developer community,” Gordes said.

The Connecticut shared solar pilot is “ridiculously small” when compared to similar programs in other states, he said.

Gordes’ view on the size of the pilot program is shared by officials with Vote Solar, a non-profit group focused on promoting the broader use of solar energy.

Sean Garren, Northeast Regional Director at Vote Solar, said the state’s pilot program “is too little, too late.”

“Massachusetts has hundreds of megawatts of community solar delivering electric bill savings, local jobs and property taxes and New York and Rhode Island have many more megawatts of community solar on the way,” Garren said in a statement. “If Connecticut wants to compete for investment and jobs in the northeast, we need a real commitment to community solar. Our recent report found that a 200-megawatt program would deliver more than 2,500 new jobs, $370 million in local economic benefits and $80 million in property taxes.”